July 2021
09Jul

Germany finally launches basic pension scheme

Germany’s basic pension scheme kicks off this July Shortly before the federal election in September, Germany’s coalition government is finally delivering on its promise to top-up insubstantial pension benefits to ensure a basic standard of living for all retirees who have contributed to the social security system. Under the new system, anyone who has contributed towards a German pension for at least 33 years will qualify for a basic pension. This includes not just time spent working, but also time taken...

July 9, 2021
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08Jul

Remaking Retirement: Debt in an Aging Economy

By  Olivia Mitchell & Annamaria Lusardi Around the world, people nearing and entering retirement are holding ever-greater levels of debt than in the past. This is not a benign situation, as many pre-retirees and retirees are stressed about their indebtedness. Moreover, this growth in debt among the older population may render retirees vulnerable to financial shocks, medical care bills, and changes in interest rates. Contributors to this volume explore key aspects of the rise in debt across older cohorts, drill down...

July 8, 2021
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08Jul

Delay the Pension Age or Adjust the Pension Benefit? Implications for Labor Supply and Individual Welfare in China

By Yuanyuan Deng, Hanming Fang, Katja Hanewald, Shang Wu We develop and calibrate a life-cycle model of labor supply and consumption to quantify the implications of alternative pension reforms on labor supply, individual welfare, and government budget for China’s basic old-age insurance program. We focus on urban males and distinguish low-skilled and high-skilled individuals, who differ in their preferences, health and labor income dynamics, and medical expense processes. We use the calibrated model to evaluate three potential pension reforms: (i)...

July 8, 2021
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June 2021
24Jun

US. Pandemic Magnifies Demand for Retirement Income

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand among retirees for retirement income solutions, according to BlackRock’s annual “DC Pulse” survey, which also found that nearly half of defined contribution (DC) plan participants’ finances were negatively impacted by the pandemic. “Workers saving for retirement today are concerned that they are going to outlive their savings, or that they may not enjoy the same kind of comfortable retirement previous generations did,” the report stated. “Plan participants, plan sponsors, and retirees alike all emerge...

June 24, 2021
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May 2021
24May

Bulgaria. Average Salary shows significant growth and pensions with it

The average salary registered over 10 percent growth year-on- year.On the other hand, the share of remuneration from work in the overall household budgets has shrunk, while the share of incomes from pensions and social benefits has grown. Despite the reported growth of the average salary up to BGN 1,500, this does not apply to all sectors of the economy. Traditionally, the highest incomes are in the information and communication technologies and in the health sphere - due to the...

May 24, 2021
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20May

How Competitive Are Income Annuity Providers Over Time?

By David Blanchett, Michael S. Finke, Branislav Nikolic The 2019 SECURE Act provides safe harbor protections to employers who evaluate the costs of providing guaranteed income including gathering information on competing providers. Annuities can be more difficult to evaluate than mutual funds because annuity expenses can be opaque, financial strength matters, and insurer competitiveness can change over time. We find significant variation in the payout rates across providers over time. While the payout rankings of annuity companies (e.g., best to...

May 20, 2021
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13May

Aging and Wages of Older Workers in Japan

By Quoc Hung Nguyen We first theoretically argue that labor force aging leads to a fall in the relative wage of older workers based on the Tinbergen's labor supply-demand framework. Using data from Japan's Basic Survey on Wage Structure and Population Census across 47 prefectures, we then estimate that a 10% increase in the relative number of workers aged 55 and older leads to a fall in their corresponding relative wage in a range of 3.5% to 4.3%. This equivalently...

May 13, 2021
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11May

UK. DB transfer victims lose up to 40% of compensation

Victims of defined benefit transfer mis-selling stand to lose an average 40 per cent of compensation payments thanks to changes in the way redress is calculated. While this problem could affect every victim of DB transfer misadvice across the UK, the discrepancy has come to light because steelworkers at Port Talbot have been 'comparing notes' on the compensation levels they have received so far. As a result, campaigners helping former British Steel Pension Scheme members to get redress have warned the way the...

May 11, 2021
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06May

Does it Matter to be Informal? Type of employment and political opinions in the MENA region

By Anil Duman Informal activities are highly persistent in developing countries, and their economic effects are widely studied in the literature. Yet, political consequences of informality are relatively an understudied topic and big chunk of the existing work does not offer systematic examination of how informal sector participation shape preferences and attitudes. Our paper contributes to the literature by focusing on Arab countries that have very stable and large size of informal sectors in the world. Additionally, we take into...

May 6, 2021
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05May

BBC Africa Eye uncovers grand corruption in Nigeria’s pension pot

A new investigation by BBC Africa Eye into pensions in Nigeria has uncovered an unfair and corrupt system which leaves some elderly people sick and penniless, with government workers soliciting extra payments before paying out pensions, people arbitrarily being declared ‘dead’ and having to prove they are alive before their pension is reinstated, and politicians being offered outrageous retirement packages. The five month investigation began when Africa eye was approached by Obaji Akpet – a reporter / producer from Cross...

May 5, 2021
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