A socio-political evaluation of the Riester subsidy is not possible on the basis of the data and measures currently available. First, there needs to be a transparent report, based on socially criteria, about the declining standard pension level of the statutory pension insurance. Second is...

The article documents the discussion of a workshop on the Riester saving which took place at DIW Berlin. Workshop participants included scientists, consumer advocates, representatives from the financial services industry, and politicians. The workshop addressed a number of controversial topics,...

The paper gives an overview of state consumer policy initiatives that the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) is (co-)responsible for, with respect to financial services in general, and Riester-Rente products specifically. Der Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über...

Analyses based on data from the Zulagenstelle für Altersvermögen (ZfA) show a high proportion of low wage earners among Riester-Rente savers. This result cannot be generalized to the population because the data include only Riester-Rente savers. However, analyses based on the Socio-Economic...

В статье рассматриваются ключевые аспекты пенсионных реформ Германии и России. Основное внимание уделяется такому элементу новых пенсионных систем, как...

This article, based on two books (Barr and Diamond 2008, forthcoming), sets out a series of principles for pension design rooted in economic theory: pension systems have multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be framed in a second-best...

This study provides estimates of the fiscal cost of a universal age pension in Sri Lanka. It challenges opponents of universal pensions who assert that such pensions are unaffordable, despite the fact that countries as diverse as New Zealand, Mauritius, Nepal, Namibia, Bolivia and Kosovo have...

In this paper, we contribute to the current debate on the Italian pension system by analyzing the impact of social security reforms, in terms of both budgetary implications and distributional effects. This is done by simulating the effects of three hypothetical reforms, plus the effects of the...

Preference for partial privatization of social security is explored using a 2004 sample of 7,565 young baby boomers. Two-thirds of the sample would choose partial privatization. While a greater proportion of higher-income, wealthier, and more educated respondents preferred private accounts,...

Current multi-pillar pension plans have adopted the same retirement age for the defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) components of the plan. This paper considers potential benefits obtainable from coordinating DB and DC benefits. The plan proposed here involves establishing an...