October 2018

12Oct

The Creation and Benchmarking of a Green Municipal Bond Index

By Candace Partridge (University College London - QASER Laboratory), Francesca Medda (University College London - QASER Laboratory) As the green bond market grows, many are wondering if there is a pricing difference between green bonds and conventional bonds. In order to explore these ideas, we created bond indices specific to the green-labelled and climate-aligned municipal bond market, primarily to test the competitiveness of the green sector of the muni bond market against the overall muni bond market. We used the...

October 12, 2018
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12Oct

Retirement Savings Inequality: Different Effects of Earnings Shocks, Portfolio Selections, and Employer Contributions by Worker Earnings Level

By Joelle Saad-Lessler (The New School for Social Research), Teresa Ghilarducci (Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA); The New School for Social Research), Gayle Reznik (U.S. Social Security Administration) Changes in accumulated retirement savings, particularly in employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) plan balances, differ by worker’s earnings levels. Earnings shocks, portfolio diversification, and employer contributions to worker’s DC plans affect retirement savings for lower earners more than for higher earners. The authors match Survey of Income and Program Participation data...

October 12, 2018
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12Oct

The Impact of Investment on Climate Change: The Case Study of Cambodia

By Phon Sophat (Thammasat University - Faculty of Economics; National Bank of Cambodia) Climate change has been mentioned as priority issues which government try to handle it with carefulness and suitability with growth and FDIs. The mainstreaming climate change might be converted into sub-national planning scale extremely identified. This include of the Strategic Framework for both centralization and decentralisation under the National Program for Sub National Democratic Development, So the development of a guideline for mainstreaming climate change into sub-national...

October 12, 2018
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12Oct

‘Deeply concerning’: Canada pension fund invests in US immigration detention firms

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board holds $5.9m of stock in two companies profiting from Trump’s ‘zero-tolerance’ Mexico border policy Canadian politicians have expressed alarm that one of Canada’s biggest pension investment funds has increased holdings in two US private companies that run American prisons and incarcerate the majority of detained immigrants. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), which manages $366.6bn in pension funds on behalf of some 20 million Canadian retirees, holds US$5.9m of stock in Geo Group and...

October 12, 2018
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12Oct

Kenya. Banks, pension schemes top finance sector sources for real estate funding

Funding options in Real Estate (Sh billion) Banks’ credit to the real estate grew by 30.82 percent in 2017 compared with 18.33 percent growth rate for pension funds. Bank loans and retirees’ savings remained the largest finance sector source of funds for property developers and homebuyers in 2017, fresh statistics show, amid declining average house sales and rent prices. Commercial banks increased their investment in real estate by Sh87.56 billion last year, the highest allocation in a single year despite the September...

October 12, 2018
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12Oct

Canada pension fund to lift China investment

CPPIB plans to increase funding across country as it eyes long-term market opportunities from growing middle-income group, aging population By 2025, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board plans to have 20 percent of its estimated C$800 billion ($612 billion) assets invested in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, said Mark Machin, president and CEO of CPPIB. "It's a sensible thing to increase our supply to this market. We are building expertise, and we think valuation is not perfect in this...

October 12, 2018
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11Oct

Chinese pension system covers 925 million people

More than 925 million people are covered by the pension system in China, according to an article published by the country's top social security organ in the Qiushi Journal, a bi-monthly periodical run by the CPC Central Committee. The number is nearly nine times that of 1992. The pension funds for enterprise retirees have been rising for 14 consecutive years, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. In addition, more than 1.35 billion people or nearly all the...

October 11, 2018
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11Oct

IMF on Greece: 3.5 pct Primary Surplus, No Pension Cuts Postponement

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its renewed Fiscal Monitor for October. There, the fund revised Greece’s 2019 growth rate upwards and accepted that it made a mistake regarding the last year’s Greek primary surplus. The IMF had predicted that Greece would achieve a 3.7 percent primary surplus, while now it acknowledges that the country’s surplus reached 4.2 percent. In addition to this, the IMF agrees with the official projections of the Greek authorities and says that Greece will be able to...

October 11, 2018
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11Oct

France. Macron’s pensions shake-up to take effect in 2025

A promised pensions overhaul by French President Emmanuel Macron will be introduced in 2025, but workers will retain benefits already accrued under the existing system, said the man liaising between government and unions over the reform. A trade union leader and business lobby group representative said they understood it would take 40 years for the new system to be fully phased in. The government wants to align the retirement systems in the public and private sectors as well as the variety...

October 11, 2018
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11Oct

Trillions in US net worth vulnerable to recession: IMF

A severe recession would slash US public wealth by about $5 trillion, causing vastly more damage to Washington's finances than just an increase in debt and deficits, the IMF warned Tuesday. Yet governments around the world, many of which face similar dangers, do not clearly publicize their overall net worths, the International Monetary Fund said in a new report. This creates a potential blind spot for policymakers who could use this knowledge to head off economic risks, it said. The global crisis...

October 11, 2018
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