February 2017

04Feb

Can Low Income Countries Afford Basic Social Protection? First Results of a Modelling Exercise

By Karuna Pal, Christina Behrendt, Florian Leger, Michael Cichon & Krysztof Hagemejer This report presents the methodology and the results of a modelling exercise that demonstrates that basic social protection benefits are not out of reach for low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, even though some international assistance would be necessary for a transitory period. The Social Protection Sector of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated the cost of basic social protection benefits education, health, pensions) for a selected number...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Pension design, System Sustainability, ,
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04Feb

The Separation of Intelligence and Control: Retirement Savings and the Limits of Soft Paternalism

By Jacob Russell “Soft paternalism” is in vogue among academics and lawmakers, but too much is being asked of it. This Article studies soft paternalist techniques — including nudging and disclosure — that have been used in the employer-sponsored retirement system. Defined-contribution retirement plans represent an ideal test case for libertarian paternalism: there has been extensive experimentation, and it has often been held up as a success by nudge advocates. In particular, this Article focuses on investment allocation decisions in...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Regulation, Savings,
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04Feb

Enforcement capacity and the impact of labor regulation : evidence from the Russian Federation

By Álvaro Gonzalez, Siddharth Sharma & Hari Subhash The impact of business regulations on firms could depend on how the regulations are enforced in practice. Exploiting variation in enforcement capacity across the Russian Federation's administrative regions, this paper examines whether the enforcement of restrictive regulations on hiring and firing workers affects how firms adjust employment during industry upswings and downswings. The analysis finds that the extent to which firms adjust employment upward during industry upswings and downward during downswings is...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Labor Market, Regulation, Supervision,
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January 2017

12Jan

Trusts No More: Rethinking the Regulation of Retirement Savings in the United States

By Natalya Shnitser - The regulation of private and public pension plans in the United States begins with the premise that employer-sponsored plans resemble traditional donative, or gift, trusts. Accordingly, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) famously “imports” major principles of donative trust law for the regulation of private employer-sponsored pension plans. Statutes regulating state and local government pension plans likewise routinely invoke the structure and standards applicable to donative trusts. Judges, in turn, adjudicate by analogy...

January 12, 2017
Articles, Corporate Governance, Regulation, ,
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