Public pay-as-you-go pensions still form the dominant pillar of old-age provision in Germany. This is in marked contrast to the situation in Anglo-Saxon countries. It has advantages if labour markets are strong, e.g., following a quick recovery from the Great Recession. It has disadvantages, as...

Since its inception, the traditional form of providing survivor benefits within public pension schemes has lost much of its legitimacy. As a result of fundamental changes in marriage behaviour and the typical division of labour between married spouses, offering non-contributory benefits of this...

Public pay-as-you-go pensions still form the dominant pillar of old-age provision in Germany. This is in marked contrast to the situation in Anglo-Saxon countries. It has advantages if labour markets are strong, e.g., following a quick recovery from the Great Recession. It has disadvantages, as...

Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- CESifo Book Series in Economic Policy -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 Demography -- 2 Public Support for the Old -- 3 Public Support for Families and Children -- 4 Child-Related Elements in Public Pension Schemes -- 5 Life-cycle...

Germany is being hit relatively hard by demographic aging. The latest round of major pension reforms dates back to the period from 2001 to 2007. The last government tried to prepare a new reform, but failed to reach a consensus. The new coalition government is not pursuing these plans any...

Many countries followed the German example in increasing the legal retirement age, reaching the German standard envisaged for 2030 (of 67 years of age) at an earlier stage (in Ireland: 2021; the Netherlands: 2021; and Denmark: 2022) or even exceeding it (in Ireland: with 68 years, starting in 2028).

How much retirement income is needed in order to maintain one's living standard at old age? As it is difficult to find a firm basis for an empirical treatment of this question, we employ a novel approach to assessing an adequate replacement rate vis- a-vis income in the pre-retirement period. We...