We investigate the development of public pensions in Germany and how its significance will change when the multi-pillar systems matures due to population aging. The message of our analysis is complex. Even after the pension reforms which took place between 2001 and 2007 public pensions will...

In spring 2007 the German government increased the statutory retirement age from 65 to 67. We simulate the long-term impact of this measure on the budget of the German public pension system. In contrast to previous simulations our results are based on a model that explicitly accounts for...

This paper investigates the savings behaviour of German households, especially their capability and their reasons to save. We find that about one third of private households do not save at all while about 50 percent of the households save very regularly. Savings rates appear to be related to...

We discuss the development of predictive choice models that go beyond the random utility model in its narrowest formulation. Such approaches incorporate several elements of cognitive process that have been identified as important to the choice process, including strong dependence on history and...

As the publicly financed pay-as-you-go pension systems in Europe come under increasing pressure, workers and politicians rediscover private savings for retirement in Europe - the provision of self-financed rather than state-financed old-age insurance. This paper summarizes our knowledge about...

Attitudes with respect to risk bearing, self-control and impatience are potentially important determinants of a households' decision whether or not to hold a certain assets. They are, however, hard to measure. This paper acknowledges the endogeneity of common measures of risk attitudes and...

This paper provides a critical review of the pension reform strategy which turns defined benefits (DB) public pay-as-you-go systems into notional defined contribution (NDC) systems. We show that properly designed NDC public pension systems contain powerful economic and political mechanisms that...

The paper considers transitions in the health and disability status of persons as they age. In particular, we explore the relationship between health and disability at younger ages (say 50) and health and disability in future ages. We consider for example, the future health path of persons who...

The so called actuarial adjustments of public pension benefits to the retirement age are quite controversial in the German retirement insurance system. This article aims to shed light on the technical details in order to help our readers to determine for themselves what the "right" adjustments...