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After the financial crisis, some Central and Eastern Europe countries partially or totally reversed the pension reforms they had initiated in the previous two decades. In the presence of an aging population in the region, reductions in replacement rates will be the most likely adjustment mechanism for the social security systems to remain fiscally sustainable. In some other emerging economies, mandatory funded schemes are operating with low contribution rates, and policy makers have not been able to pass legislation to increase the contribution rate to ensure adequate pensions for future retirees. Voluntary pension schemes that take into consideration the behavioral aspects of individuals ma...
This paper provides an assessment of the funded pension system and the quality of the regulatory framework for both accumulation and payout phase. It suggests that the lack of portfolio diversification may contribute in the future to low returns and poor pensions and provides a number of recommendations to expand the opportunities of investments to pension funds. The paper also finds that pension fund administrators are not exploiting the scale economies in certain areas of the business such as collection of revenues and account management, and proposes mechanisms to reduce costs and increase efficiency through greater competition. The paper examines the products and options offered at retirement age and finds a bias toward the payment of pensions in the form of lump sums and suggests alternatives for improving the availability of other instruments. Enhancements to the regulatory framework of insurance companies are also proposed.
Europe’s pension systems –among the most celebrated features of its social welfare model— face tremendous challenges. With only 11 percent of the world’s population, Europe spends about 60 percent of global outlays on social protection, largely in pensions. In many countries, pension rules have encouraged people to retire sooner, while enjoying longer lives. Payroll taxes on a continuously expanding contributory base have financed these benefits. This model of pension provision is now being severely tested as pension systems reach maturity, while the population is aging and the labor force is starting to shrink. Measures to enable a continued tradition of providing old age security w...
In the 1990s many emerging economies in Central Europe and Latin America initiated their pension reforms. While most analysis to date has focused on the accumulation phase, there are a number of lessons to be shared as countries start to prepare the retirement options for their contributors, with this book addressing these issues from a public policy perspective.
This note adds to the existing literature by examining the enabling conditions for the creation of mandatory funded pension funds, and identifying additional factors that are important to consider in the early stages of the reform. The note stresses the importance of some factors that had already been identified in previous literature but not fully observed by reforming countries, including the strong and lasting commitment of the authorities with the reform, the fiscal commitment with the reform, and some basic financial infrastructure. The analysis is also extended to analyze the role of supervision in the early stages of the reform and the role of the government in fostering the development of the domestic capital market.
This paper provides an assessment of the Polish funded pension system and the quality of the regulatory framework for the accumulation phase. There are two elements that distinguish the Polish pension fund portfolios from other reforming countries: the relatively high component of domestic equity, and the negligible component on international securities. Although this asset allocation has provided relatively high real rates of return in the past, it may not be the case in the future, as further portfolio diversification to other instruments will become necessary to ensure sustainable rates of return. The paper provides a number of recommendations to expand the opportunities of investments to...
There is no doubt that on average the performance of state financial institutions around the world has been below the lowest expectations. Lack of governance, management skills, regulation, and transparency, and misguided incentives have contributed to discredit these institutions for supporting the development of local financial markets. However, the pro-active role that some state financial institutions have played in the recent crisis in allocating credit to sectors cyclically not attractive for commercial banks has brought back the question of whether some state ownership in the banking system would be preferable. This paper analyzes the experience of four state financial institutions that have performed relatively well in the past: Canada's Business Development Bank, Chile's BancoEstado, South Africa's Development Bank of Southern Africa, and Finland's Finnvera plc. The author finds that these institutions have different checks and balances to mitigate eventual mismanagement of resources. The author also finds that little progress has been made in measuring the policy performance of these institutions.
Past performance of development banks, has generally been considered poor and the value of state ownership questioned. There are few institutions that achieve the optimum balance of effectively addressing a policy objective while being financially sustainable. Following the financial crisis, there is a renewed interest in the role development banks can play in weathering the crisis. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the lessons learned following the financial crisis and to present some of the best practices in development banking so that policy makers can be better informed should they be considering how to build strong state financial institutions to address current and future needs in their respective countries.