Many pension schemes mandated by governments have accumulated large reserves. The management of these funds has a direct effect on financial sustainability, and potential benefit levels. It also has important indirect effects on the overall economy when the funds are large. Part I of this study...

A critical question in the transition to a funded, private pension system is whether the new private element is presented as a mandate or choice to current and future workers. This report sets out the spectrum of available options and looks at policy in 13 reforming countries-Argentina, Bolivia,...

Prefunding of pension commitments in OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) economies is increasingly seen as a central strategy to cope with the aging of their populations. This paper argues that investments in emerging markets can help at the margin but are unable to solve...

This paper brings together some of the empirical work conducted by IFPRI researchers which investigates linkages among the degree of consumption insurance, households'vulnerability to poverty, and household use of formal and informal coping mechanisms using the same empirical approach in five...

This"toolkit"provides quantitative tools to practitioners who want to undertake risk and vulnerability assessments using household data. While one could use price, exchange rate, and balance of payments data to examine macroeconomic shocks, and rainfall data to assess the severity of droughts...

The creation of fully funded, privately managed pension systems may have significant positive direct effects on savings, growth, and welfare. However, the indirect link, via capital market development, may be as important. This hypothesis is verified with evidence from emerging economies that...

A large number of public pension schemes around the world have accumulated significant reserves. Pre-funding might reduce the risk that future governments will not be able to meet pension obligations. The management of these funds therefore, has a direct effect on financial sustainability and...

Funded mandatory pension systems based on individual accounts are spreading around the world. With the maturation of those systems, regulating the withdrawal of retirement savings will become increasingly important. Government regulation of withdrawals should mandate the purchase of...

The aim of this paper is to provide some guidance on how to carry out a social protection (SP) expenditure, performance and finance review - given the absence of social protection in public expenditure review (PER) work to date. Such a review will enable countries (i) to better use their SP...