After overviewing the performance of the Japanese economy since the end of the bubble era of the late 1980s, we estimate the potential growth rate of Japan by using a production function for its economy. We conclude that the potential growth rate is only about 0.5 % due to the rapidly declining...

As a result of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 2004 Actuarial Valuation of Public Pension Plans and its provisional estimates released in February 2007 it became widely recognized that the stability of pension finance was heavily dependent not only on population decline but also on...

In this paper we discuss the impact of potential proposed revisions to the survivors' pension system on the stability of pension finance and on intergenerational and intragenerational equitability. The three proposals we study are: (1) the proposal that the survivors' pension benefit be reduced...

This paper looks into the intermingling of the self insurance and public assistance principles in Japan's government-sponsored pension system that has been eroding public trust in the system. Using a newly developed pension funding model (the RIETI model), we analyze options for reforms...