December 2019

31Dec

The Collapse of the Models. Re-shaping Social Protection in Europe and Latin America

The 2010-decade was a challenging period for the world. Latin America’s economy was doing relatively well at the beginning of the decade. However, the region’s economy is stagnated. Read also Colombia’s Pension Reform Hampered By Political Tension The European Union has been struggling too. Besides economic stagnation, right-wing populist candidates have been on the rise. The populists’ slogans on preserving national identity and tackling uncontrolled immigration have gained traction. Read also Greek government planning pension rises for 450,000 recipients Further, the...

December 31, 2019
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31Dec

UK. Bank of England Governor warns of climate change threat to pension funds

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned pension schemes are at risk due to climate change unless they cut their investments in fossil fuels. The outgoing BoE chief made the comments in a pre-recorded BBC Radio 4 interview broadcast today (30 December). Read also UK. 20 key changes to tax, pensions, benefits, rail fares and more coming in 2020 He warned unless firms woke up to the 'climate crisis' certain assets would become worthless. Mr Carney said:...

December 31, 2019
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30Dec

UK. 20 key changes to tax, pensions, benefits, rail fares and more coming in 2020

A huge number of changes are planned for 2020 that will affect many aspects of your life - including changes to benefits, pensions and transport fares. Some of the moves will be good news for your finances - others will hit you in the pocket. Benefits are rising, while tax breaks are taken from landlords - and while the state pension is up, free TV licences are being taken away. There are also new rights coming affecting bank accounts...

December 30, 2019
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December 2019

27Dec

Labor Supply Responses to Health Shocks : Evidence from High-Frequency Labor Market Data from Urban Ghana: World Bank Group Publications

By World Bank Group Publications, World Bank Group, World Bank, Heath Rachel, Mansuri Ghazala, Rijkers Bob Workers in developing countries are subject to frequent health shocks. Using 10 weeks of high-frequency labor market data that were collected in urban Ghana, this paper documents that men are 9 percentage points more likely to work in weeks in which another worker in the household is unexpectedly ill. The paper provides suggestive evidence that these effects are strongest among very risk averse...

December 27, 2019
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27Dec

Realistic Expectations and Limitations to Consumer-Facing Robo-tic Advisors

By Dirk Cotton, Neville Francis We present a benchmark life-cycle simulation model (RFSM) that incorporates the financial, demographic, and mortality positions of retired households. By adjusting several features we nest a specific type of consumer-facing (generic) robo model that attempts to minimize the user's workload by imputing key inputs. We calibrate both models under robo policies using the Health and Retirement data for our benchmark model and robo-imputed data for the Generic-Robo model. Our findings indicate that retirees using...

December 27, 2019
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27Dec

The Right of Older Persons to Work and to Access the Labour Market

By Andrew C. Byrnes, Israel Issi Doron, Nena Georgantzi, Bill Mitchell, Bridget Sleap This paper was prepared as a submission to the United Nations General Assembly Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, which is considering the desirability of the development of a new international treaty on the human rights of older persons. The paper explores issues relating to the participation of older persons in the labour market, in particular the barriers to their entry to and continued participation in paid...

December 27, 2019
Aging, Articles, Labor Market,
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27Dec

The Pan-European Pension Product Regulation: A Huge Opportunity for the Luxembourg Fund Industry

By Sebastiaan Niels Hooghiemstra Currently, there is a dynamic and ongoing improvement in life expectancies that is not accounted for in pension systems designed to provide financial security in retirement. All over Europe, there are currently employment-based (2nd pillar) pension funds and first pillar pay-as-you-go (PAYG) state pensions systems that are facing huge funding deficits as a result of that. Recently both the EU parliament and the EU Council took their stance on the introduction of an European legal...

December 27, 2019
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27Dec

España. Destripando los planes de pensiones

A punto ya de finalizar el año, a muchos representantes del Estado se les pueden atragantar las uvas si durante las campanadas se ponen a pensar cómo van a conseguir en 2020 resolver el problema de las pensiones. Tras la paga de Navidad, para la que el mes pasado hubo que echar mano, una vez más, del Fondo de Reserva de la Seguridad Social, la “hucha de las pensiones” se ha quedado sólo con 2.150 millones de euros, cuando...

December 27, 2019
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27Dec

Nigeria. Micro-pension contributors hit 30,000 in 7 months

Contributors for the Micro Pension plan are now 30,000 seven months after it was launched, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said. The Acting Director General of PenCom, Aisha Umar-Dahir said this in an exclusive interview with Daily Trust. The Micro Pension plan was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2019. It is aimed at extending pension coverage to the self-employed and persons working in the informal sector to drive financial inclusion and allow the target population to...

December 27, 2019
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27Dec

South Korea. finalizes guidelines on pension fund’s shareholder activism

South Korea on Friday approved proposed guidelines for shareholder activism by the country's largest state pension fund, paving the way for the fund to press companies it holds stakes in to dismiss board members over breach of trust and other illegal activities. "The guidelines are part of efforts to manage the National Pension Service in a more transparent and fair manner," Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a meeting of the management committee -- the highest decision-making...

December 27, 2019
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