July 2020

World is Facing a Population Bust

In his last book, "Billions and Billions," published in 1997, Carl Sagan wrote: “There is a well-documented worldwide correlation between poverty and high birthrates … exponential population growth slows down or stops when grinding poverty disappears. This is called demographic transition.” More recently, John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker wrote in their book, "Empty Planet": Read also Australia. Low income earners get further support The great defining event of the twenty-first century — one of the great defining events in human...

Age with Care: Long-term Care in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Gianluca Cafagna, Natalia Aranco, Pablo Ibarrarán, María Laura Oliveri, Nadin Medellin, Marco Stampini In Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 8 million older people are unable to independently complete at least one basic activity of daily living, such as eating, bathing or showering, or getting in and out of bed. This situation, called care dependence, affects 12% of people over age 60 and nearly 27% of people over age 80 in the region. The demand for long-term...

Protecting South Asia’s poor and vulnerable against COVID-19

By Lynne Sherburne Benz, Stefano Paternostro, Zaineb Majoka When India went into lockdown in late March as a result of COVID-19, one of the country’s biggest priorities was to ensure access to food. As millions risked starvation, the government mobilized its existing Public Distribution System (PDS) to give away food rations to over 800 million people, thus averting a catastrophic food crisis. As the coronavirus spreads exponentially across South Asia, food insecurity is just one of the many challenges...

June 2020

Emerging economies and COVID-19 Closing in a world of informal and small companies

By Laura Alfaro, Oscar Becerra, Marcela Eslava Emerging economies are characterized by an extremely high prevalence of informality, smallfirm employment and jobs not fit for working from home. These features factor into how the COVID-19 crisis has affected the economy. We develop a framework that, based on accounting identities and actual data, quantifies potential job and income losses during the crisis and recovery for economies with different economic organization structures. Our analysis incorporates differential exposure of jobs across categories...

South African Individual Retirement Savings: An Analysis of the Social Factors

By Gizelle Willows This study's primary aim is to determine whether members of a South African tertiary institution's retirement fund are en route to have sufficient retirement savings. Secondly, the results are analysed between different social factors namely: age, gender, race, education level, marital status, and cost of employment. Survey data and information received directly from the retirement fund were used as inputs in a customised model. This method was unique to this study, that is, it was able...

Building better retirement systems in the wake of the global pandemic

By Olivia S. Mitchell In the wake of the global pandemic known as COVID-19, retirees, along with those hoping to retire someday, have been shocked into a new awareness of the need for better risk management tools to handle longevity and aging. This paper offers an assessment of the status quo prior to the spread of the coronavirus, evaluates how retirement systems are faring in the wake of the shock. Next we examine insurance and financial market products that...

India. Modifications in National Pension Scheme financially untenable: Finance Ministry

The Finance Ministry has ruled out proposals by a federation of central and state governments employees seeking modification in the National Pension Scheme, saying its corpus is invested in a prudential manner to ensure optimal returns and suggested that changes will be financially untenable. The response comes following a petition to the Prime Minister''s Office (PMO) by Manjeet Singh Patel, president of Delhi unit of the National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS), seeking revival of the old pension...

Japan. Relieve non-regular workers’ anxiety through reform of pension system

By The Japan News Editorial There is great significance in improving the foundation of the quality of life in old age for part-timers and other non-regular workers. Laws related to pension system reform have been passed. The range of people eligible for employee pensions will be expanded to include short-term workers from companies with fewer employees. Read also India. Modifications in National Pension Scheme financially untenable: Finance Ministry Currently, companies are required to join the employee pension program if they meet the...

May 2020

The 2018 Pension Adequacy Report: current and future income adequacy in old age in the EU

By European Commission The 2018 edition of the triennial Pension Adequacy Report analyses how current and future pensions help prevent old-age poverty and maintain the income of men and women for the duration of their retirement. Volume I is devoted to comparative analysis of pension adequacy in the EU- 28. It examines the current living standards of older people and how they are shaped by pension systems, proceeds with an overview of recent pension reforms and concludes by analysing...

Working In Retirement: What You Need To Know Now

It’s common to assume that once you’re retired, your working days are over. But that’s not always the case. Whether it’s financially necessary or just a way to stay busy, a lot of people end up with a post-retirement career. If you think you’ll need or want to continue working to some degree after you retire, it’s important to start planning years ahead. Here are three different paths you can take for a post-retirement career—and important aspects of each...