October 2021
29Oct

World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2021

By ILO The pandemic has brought unprecedented disruption that – absent concerted policy efforts – will scar the social and employment landscape for years to come The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unparalleled disruption worldwide through its devastating impact on public health, employment and livelihoods. Governments and workers’ and employers’ organizations everywhere have taken immediate measures to tackle the crisis, preserve jobs and protect incomes, though these measures have differed in scope and generosity. While such measures have been crucial in mitigating...

October 29, 2021
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September 2021
30Sep

Japan’s GPIF won’t buy China’s sovereign debt

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, the world's largest pension fund, said it won't include yuan-denominated Chinese sovereign debt in its portfolio. The decision comes as FTSE Russell is set to start adding Chinese debt to its benchmark global bond index, which the GPIF follows, starting in October. The pension fund will instead use a version of the World Government Bond index that excludes Chinese government bonds, Hiroshi Nagaoka, an official at the pension fund, told Bloomberg News. Minutes from a July...

September 30, 2021
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13Sep

Korea’s aging population to sap fiscal health: Fitch

The fast-paced aging of South Korea’s population is likely to undermine the fiscal health of Asia’s fourth-largest economy in the long run amid soaring debt, credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings said Monday. The aging population, coupled with a declining fertility rate of fewer than one child per woman, could leave Korea exposed to higher risks as rising government spending could become a less effective means of boosting nationwide productivity. Read also Australia. Most vulnerable excluded from Disability Support Pension Fitch urged Korea...

September 13, 2021
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10Sep

The Surprising Ingredients of Swedish Success – Free Markets and Social Cohesion

By Nima Sanandaji Sweden did not become wealthy through social democracy, big government and a large welfare state. It developed economically by adopting free-market policies in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It also benefited from positive cultural norms, including a strong work ethic and high levels of trust. As late as 1950, Swedish tax revenues were still only around 21 per cent of GDP. The policy shift towards a big state and higher taxes occurred mainly during the...

September 10, 2021
Articles, Investment, Pension design, Pension Management, ,
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August 2021
26Aug

UK. ONS warns early retirement could negatively affect individual finances and wider economy

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has warned that the exit of workers aged between 50 and 65 from the workforce could negatively impact both individuals’ finances and the wider economy. The organisation’s Living longer: impact of working from home on older workers study estimated that if the employment rate of people in the age group matched that of those aged 35 to 49 years, it would add more than 5 per cent to UK gross domestic product (GDP), equating...

August 26, 2021
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06Aug

Thatcher: the Myth of Deregulation

By Philip Booth It is commonly believed that, during the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher presided over a substantial reduction in government regulation of financial services. Indeed, some have blamed this deregulation for the financial crash that took place nearly 30 years after 1979. ‘Big Bang’ in 1986 did remove the restrictive practices and largely private regulation that existed in securities markets. However, this involved the state unwinding systems of private regulation and was not, as such, a simple act of deregulation. Furthermore, not...

August 6, 2021
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July 2021
16Jul

How geopolitics impact global public investors

In the world of institutional investing, geopolitical risk has emerged as a pressing concern. While some asset owners contend that they are fully capable of analysing and managing such risk, they appear to be in the minority. Many public investors are still largely unprepared, lacking proper analytical frameworks and relevant expertise to tackle geopolitics in a structured and rigorous way. However, there is a relatively simple and straightforward solution to this: asset owners can apply some of the same...

July 16, 2021
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12Jul

Emerging markets pushed to the sidelines for now

Emerging markets have become a victim of China's success in 2020, with money managers and investors now underweight and pulling assets from equity and debt allocations as they watch and wait for better times to resume. The recovery in the U.S. dollar, an increase in safe-haven asset yields in the first quarter and China's tighter monetary policy have contributed to the underperformance of emerging market assets vs. developed market assets so far in 2021. On top of that, developed markets continue...

July 12, 2021
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08Jul

From welfare to farewell: the European social-ecological state beyond economic growth

By European Trade Union Institute RPS Submitter, Eloi Laurent This working paper is intended to shed light on a pressing issue: the apparent growth-dependency of European welfare states at a time of weak growth prospects and strong criticisms of growth. Indeed, while the notion of going beyond GDP growth is gaining momentum in the European Union, as elsewhere, and seems rational and desirable to a growing number of citizens and policymakers, it might not be feasible. Highlighting a new ‘welfare-growth-transition...

July 8, 2021
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02Jul

The Economics of Ageing and the Political Economy of Old Age

By William A. Jackson Economic discussion of ageing has been largely neoclassical in approach. Ageing has become a specialism within population economics, which is itself a specialism within the neoclassical mainstream. An alternative view has come from authors in sociology and social policy, who have produced their own 'political economy of old age'. In contrast with neoclassical individualism, sociological depictions of aging have stressed the social construction of old age and the structured dependency of the elderly. Non-neoclassical economists have...

July 2, 2021
Aging, Articles, ,
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