In addition to the pensions delivered by the mandatory social security system, different schemes offer in France the option to purchase private life annuities. These individual annuities are provided by numerous and heterogeneous institutions that rely on more or less rigorous prudential rules...

This paper shows that, beyond the institutional stability of Social Security, changes in the private sector as well as the emergence of a new financial paradigm have transformed both the U.S. pension system and the political debate about its future. Although no major reform of Social Security...