October 2021
20Oct

Bahrain’s MPs urged to fast-track pensions debate

Pensioners are demanding that Bahrain’s MPs fast-track a government bill granting a three per cent increment to them, starting this year. Many of the pensioners, interviewed by our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej, have expressed their dismay at the delay in the discussion of a draft law on pension funds referred by the government to the council in March. The law includes granting pensioners an annual increment of 3pc beginning from this year. Postponements and procrastination rob pensioners of the badly-needed increment,...

October 20, 2021
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08Oct

National pension reform: Why it is imperative in South Africa

When the Department of Social Development (DSD) released its Green Paper on Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement Reforms, the proposal to set up a national pension scheme was swiftly shot down. The Green Paper proposed a National Social Security Fund to which all workers earning over R1,667 a month would contribute. Employers and employees would initially contribute between 8% and 12% of earnings up to a ceiling of R23,000 a month. Such was the force of the opposition that there was...

October 8, 2021
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08Oct

Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Reforms and Retirement Incentives

By Axel Börsch-Supan & Courtney Coile This ninth phase of the International Social Security project, which studies the experiences of twelve developed countries, examines the effects of public pension reform on employment at older ages. In the last two decades, men’s labor force participation at older ages has increased, reversing a long-term pattern of decline; participation rates for older women have increased dramatically as well. While better health, more education, and changes in labor-supply behavior of married couples may have...

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 358 views

September 30, 2021
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28Sep

Puerto Rico Board Agrees to Pension Changes If New Bonds Granted

By Michelle Kaske Puerto Rico’s financial oversight board said it will sign off on island lawmakers’ proposed changes to pensions if officials approve a plan to sell new bonds, a move that could enable the commonwealth to end its record bankruptcy. The panel will agree to raising its proposed $1,500 minimum pension payment to $2,000 and allowing the commonwealth to make up for any of the proposed pension reductions by allocating revenues to retirees in future budgets, the board said in...

September 28, 2021
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24Sep

Dutch pension funds can retain buffers in new DC system

Dutch pension funds that opt for the so-called flexible arrangement in the new pension system will be allowed to have buffers, according to a revised draft version of the new pension law that’s yet to be discussed in parliament. Under the original version of the law, only pension funds opting for the so-called “solidary pension arrangement” were allowed to retain buffers. This prompted a demand from several company pension funds that prefer the more individual “flexible pension arrangement” to also...

September 24, 2021
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22Sep

Chilean President presents Reform proposal that taxes profits to finance better pensions for the poor

Chile’s government plans to remove a series of tax exemptions, including one on securities trading, to help finance an increase in pensions for the poor. Read also Puerto Rico House to Unveil Bond-Cutting Bill Next Week: Speaker The pension reform, which will cost the government about $1.1 billion a year, was presented to Congress Monday for immediate discussion, President Sebastian Pinera said in a video address posted on his Twitter account. Read also CDCs could be the new annuities, say regulators The tax...

September 22, 2021
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22Sep

Puerto Rico House to Unveil Bond-Cutting Bill Next Week: Speaker

Puerto Rico lawmakers plan to file legislation next week that allows the commonwealth to sell new bonds to replace existing debt, a necessary step to help finalize the island’s record bankruptcy. The commonwealth’s House of Representatives is set to file the bill as soon as Monday, Rafael “Tatito” Hernandez, speaker of the House, said in a telephone interview. The legislature plans to pass a debt-restructuring bill by Oct. 4 for Governor Pedro Pierluisi to consider, Hernandez said. “We need to fix...

September 22, 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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14Sep

German chancellor candidates clash over future of pension system

Chancellor candidates have argued over the future of the German pension system, offering opposite views to the public in the second televised debate which took place yesterday, as the general election on 26 September approaches. Olaf Scholz, chancellor candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), now leading in the polls, said his party would “guarantee that the retirement age will not increase and that the level of pension remains stable,” also with an eye to the younger generation. Read also Germany....

September 14, 2021
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