October 2021
22Oct

Effects of COVID-19 early release of pension funds: The case of Chile

By Miguel Lorca Amid the extraordinary economic effects of COVID-19, some policymakers have turned to retirement accounts to support individuals in financial hardship. Given the haste, the long-term impacts and their heterogeneity have scarcely been analyzed. Using Monte Carlo simulations on the Chilean Social Protection Survey linked with administrative data, this study quantifies the effects of a 10% early release of pension funds. Each withdrawn dollar brings losses of 1.59 dollars in future retirement savings, reducing monthly pension benefits by...

October 22, 2021
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08Oct

The South African Retirement Reality Report 2020

By 10X Investment Even before Covid-19 and the associated lockdown, many South Africans, including many thousands of pensioners, were in crisis. The global pandemic has magnified many vulnerabilities in our society. It is in this context that 10X Investments launches the third annual report on retirement readiness in South Africa. The inaugural Retirement Reality Report, published in 2018, set out to interrogate the developing retirement crisis and its underlying causes based on the results of our Retirement Reality survey. The report...

October 8, 2021
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September 2021
30Sep

Reforming Public Sector Pensions: Solutions to a growing challenge

By Institute of Economic Affairs Submitter In its final report the Public Sector Pensions Commission finds that the true value of the main unfunded public sector pension schemes is over 40 per cent of salary. The report also finds that a lack of transparency over the true costs of public sector pensions has made it easier to delay reform in the past. Without more transparency, the true costs are unreasonably forced onto future taxpayers. Source: SSRN 368 views

September 30, 2021
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24Sep

One Country, Two Systems: Evidence on Retirement Patterns in China

By John Giles, Xiaoyan Lei, Gewei Wang, Stephen Yafeng Wang, Yaohui Zhao This paper documents the patterns and correlates of retirement in China using a nationally representative survey, the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). After documenting stark differences in retirement ages between urban and rural residents, the paper shows that China's urban residents retire earlier than workers in many OECD countries and that rural residents continue to work until advanced ages. Differences in access to generous pensions and...

September 24, 2021
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17Sep

Retirement Benefits Sector Report 2020

By URBRA URBRA’s supervisory approach is focused on the particular characteristics of each supervised entity. The approach has key and consistent underlying themes focusing on: • a detailed understanding of the strengths, weaknesses and major risks facing supervised entities through rigorous off-site and on-site analysis, and strategic discussions with trustees and service providers; • ensuring that supervised entities are effective in their operations, and constantly demonstrate that they are financially sound and prudently managed.   Get the book here 288 views

September 17, 2021
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17Sep

The Impact of Public Pension Deficits on Households’ Investment and Economic Activity

By Jinyuan Zhang US public state pension deficits are very large, accounting for 18.5% of an average state's GDP and up to 50% in Illinois. In principle, households should respond to this heavy future burden by increasing current savings, particularly in safe assets, since pension deficits are countercyclical. Comparing households residing on opposing sides of states' borders, I document that households in larger-deficit states save more, investing more in safe bank deposits and less in risky stocks. Specifically, households hold...

September 17, 2021
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10Sep

Social Protection in Lebanon Bridging the Immediate Response With Long- Term Priorities

By Unicef, ILO, & Beyond Since the Beirut Port explosion in August 2020 the social protection debate has been focused on the immediate and short-term response. Building on ongoing efforts for the development of a national social protection strategy for Lebanon, it is important to align the emergency response with medium term priorities and a longer-term vision for the sector. This paper serves to complement the Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF)1. It draws on the findings of various assessments in...

September 10, 2021
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10Sep

The Government Debt Iceberg

By Jagadeesh Gokhale Europe and the United States will soon begin to encounter fiscal constraints the like of which we have never seen before. Federal debt as a percentage of GDP more than doubled between 2000 and 2012. According to the US Congressional Budget Office, total national debt is expected to remain close to 100 per cent of GDP during the next decade and begin to increase thereafter as the baby-boomers fully enter retirement. · Debt levels in European Union countries...

September 10, 2021
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03Sep

Social Investment: A New Zealand Policy Experiment , Jonathan Boston and Derek Gill (eds) (2018)

By Alessandra De Marco The notion of prioritising ‘productive’ social investments over ‘consumptive’ social spending has long been advocated but only sporadically applied. Since 2011, however, New Zealand governments have implemented an ambitious, multi-agency social investment agenda that promises to overhaul public social spending through analyses of citizen-derived data. This commentary focuses on the development and features of the social investment agenda. In doing so, it discusses the apparent primacy of fiscal outcomes over social outcomes, and the practices and...

September 3, 2021
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03Sep

World Social Protection Report 2020–22

By ILO Despite progress in recent years in extending social protection in many parts of the world, when the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic hit many countries were still facing significant challenges in making the human right to social security a reality for all. This report provides a global overview of progress made around the world over the past decade in extending social protection and building rights-based social protection systems, including floors, and covers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In...

September 3, 2021
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