This paper starts from the fact that women receive lower pensions than men on average, and considers policies to address that fact. Women typically have lower wages than men, a greater likelihood of part-time work and more career breaks, and thus generally a less complete contribution record. In...

Rapid, inadequately funded expansion of British higher education between 1990 and 1996, superimposed on an extended period of financial stringency, led to a funding crisis. As a response, the government established a National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (the Dearing Committee)...

This article discusses how to construct student loans to ensure that, for the most part, they count as private spending. Though the specifics relate to the finance of higher education, the issue has much wider ramifications for flexible combinations of public and private activity, for example in...

The UK government aims to shift the balance between public (Pay-As-You-Go) and private (funded) pensions from 60:40 today to 40:60 by 2050 (UK DSS 1998). What is the economic rationale for this shift? Funding pensions may have a positive effect on economic growth and the long-term sustainability...

Pension systems have wide-ranging and important effects. They influence the living standards of older people and hence the welfare of both older people and their children. They can also affect national economic performance through potential effects on the labor supply and saving. The design of...