October 2019

28Oct

Chile president lifts state of emergency, protests continue

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Monday ended a state of emergency that lasted more than a week amid mass protests, but demonstrations continued nonetheless. The decision to lift the decree at midnight, just two days after more than a million people took to the country''s streets demanding economic and political change, comes after the equally unpopular week-long nighttime curfews ended on Saturday. Authorities imposed both the state of emergency and curfews last weekend after Chile was rocked by its...

October 28, 2019
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23Oct

Brazil Pension Reform Clears Congress, Stocks Hit New Highs

Brazil's Senate on Tuesday approved a sweeping overhaul of the country's pension system to stabilize public finances and restore business confidence, setting up President Jair Bolsonaro to sign his keystone economic proposal into law. Read also Japan. No excuse for inaction on pension reforms The Senate approved the main text of the landmark pension reform by a margin of 60-19 in a late Tuesday session before moving on to consider amendments. Read also Irish pensions need urgent reform, industry specialist...

October 23, 2019
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15Oct

UK. Queen’s Speech: Govt announces Pensions Bill

The Pensions Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech today (October 14) will see new rules for pension dashboards, collective defined contribution schemes and new powers for The Pensions Regulator. Queen Elizabeth said: “To help people plan for the future, measures will be brought forward to provide simpler oversight of pension savings. "To protect people savings for later life, new laws will provide greater powers to tackle irresponsible management of private pension schemes.” The government does not have a majority...

October 15, 2019
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15Oct

Bank of Estonia: Pension reform to unsettle economy

Governor of the Bank of Estonia Madis Müller, financial stability department head Jaak Tõrs and monetary policy and economic studies dept. chief Martti Randveer explained the effects of changing the pension system on tax burden, growth, financial stability and future pensions at a press conference. The Bank of Estonia presented its initial effects analysis today, work on which began immediately after the extent of planned changes accompanying plans of rendering the second pension pillar voluntary became clear. The central...

October 15, 2019
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04Oct

France. Macron seeks to placate French over pension reforms

French President Emmanuel Macron sought to ease fears over his controversial pension reform Thursday in a debate with concerned citizens over the plan that has sparked protests by train drivers, pilots, lawyers, doctors and police. Macron’s move to modernise France’s retirement system is part of an election pledge to put the country on a solid financial footing — a mission that calls for painful changes in a country where many people have seen their spending power decline. Macron’s government...

October 4, 2019
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04Oct

Why the Future of Brazil’s Economy Rides on Pensions

Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil, is closer than ever to overhauling its costly pension system. That’s been the focus of the first sustained legislative drive by President Jair Bolsonaro, his economic team and allies. Efforts to muster support for a major reform failed under previous administrations. Now, Brazil’s Senate is set to approve changes that could boost the nation’s public finances and open the door to a virtuous cycle of expansion. 1. Why is pension reform so important? Brazil’s pension...

October 4, 2019
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01Oct

Trying Wall Street’s Patience, Brazil Postpones Pension

Brazil is trying Wall Street’s patience. Last Wednesday, the Senate was scheduled to vote on a much touted, and much needed, pension reform bill. Then it was postponed to Thursday. It didn’t happen on Friday. It is now supposed to go up for a vote on Tuesday, Senate leaders said. The market for Brazil equities has been in a holding pattern all week waiting for this vote; a vote that is supposed to be a lopsided win for president Jair Bolsonaro...

October 1, 2019
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June 2019
28Jun

The political economy of pension reform

By Sarah Brooks, Duke University, Estelle James, World Bank It has become apparent that many policies that we recommend at the Bank for technical economic reasons have not been implemented for political reasons. This discrepancy between economics and politics has led the Bank, and the academic community, to begin thinking about the political economy of reform. Considerable work has already been done on the political economy of macro-economic reform and trade policy, emphasizing factors such as incomplete information,...

June 28, 2019
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