This paper explores the effect of the cost and profit efficiency of Canadian life insurers on their return on equity (ROE). We take the data submitted by these insurers to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) for 2000 through 2004 and determine 1) the extent of the...

This paper provides guidance to the microinsurance movement on how organisational structure impacts performance. We develop these insights through analysis of the Friendly Society Movement, a previously untapped and rich history of insurance for the poor. A particular structure, the Affiliated...

We develop a generalization of the World Bank (1994) model of forced saving for retirement. This broader model consists of two tiers of second pillar savings --- mandated and non-mandated (voluntary). Furthermore, the government can set two types of guarantees on the first (mandated) tier ---...

This paper assesses the cost and risk faced by public sector, defined benefit plan providers arising from uncertain mortality, including longevity selection, mortality improvements, and unexpected systematic shocks. Using longitudinal micro data on Australian pensioners, we quantify the extent...

The recently-enacted Japanese long-term care (LTC) system was implemented to reduce so-called social hospitalization or warehousing of the elderly in expensive medical facilities. This paper seeks to evaluate recent patterns in Japanese LTC use and examine the factors associated with LTC...

This paper analyzes an individual’s post retirement longevity risk management strategy allowing for systematic longevity risk, recent product innovations, and product loadings. A complete-markets discrete state model and multi-period simulations of portfolio strategies are used to assess...

This paper documents developments in public sector pensions in Australia, and reports estimated unfunded liabilities associated with benefits promised to public sector employees. Australia’s experience with public sector pensions is unusual – currently, the defense forces and the judiciary...

The complex matrix of retirement policy trade-offs -encompassing elements of paternalism, market failure, and overlaying incentives in a life-cycle context- have received much attention in the literature. But the issue of whether publicly-funded retirement provision should be means-tested, and...

This paper revisits the question of whether defined benefit pension plans inhibit labour mobility. Using national register data for three distinct 3 year periods, we define and calculate a measure of changes in individual pension entitlements which we term potential portability gain. Estimation...