This keynote speech draws three broad lessons to turn the challenges of population ageing into chances: Lesson number one is that the quantity effects of adding more labour into our ageing economies are very large. To exploit them, one has to use the entire spectrum of labour market policies:...

Faced with exceptionally rapid population ageing, Korea should address obstacles that lower fertility rates while encouraging higher labour force participation, particularly among women. While public social spending is currently very low, there is pressure for increased outlays on pensions,...

Keeping public finances on a sustainable foundation while the population ages is clearly a problem in Finland, as in many other western countries. The shrinking of the working-age population, ageing of the labour force, and growth in the number of very old persons form a difficult combination...

A major reform in the Finnish private-sector earnings-related pension system came into effect on January 1st, 2005. It was negotiated in 2001 2002 between the central organisations of employers and trade unions and representatives of the central government. This paper describes the reform and...

The aim of this article is to explore main linkages among the participation rate, potential output and pension funding system. Based on the existing literature, there are several possibilities how to render the current set-up of the pension system sustainable. This sustainability is...

In a two-period model with agent heterogeneity we analyze a pension reform toward a stronger link between contributions and benefits (as recently observed in several countries) in a pension system with a Bismarckian and a Beveridgian component. We show that such a policy change reduces the...

In a two-period model with agent heterogeneity we analyze a pension reform toward a stronger link between contributions and benefits (as recently observed in several countries) in a pension system with a Bismarckian and a Beveridgean component. We show that such a policy change may discourage...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

This paper discusses the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and National Development Strategy (NDS) for the Republic of Moldova. The NDS “Moldova 2020†presents a vision of cohesive long-term sustainable economic development based on a diagnostic study of constraints to economic...

Current and prospective population ageing is likely to reduce substantially Italy's participation rates and per capita income. Although large inflows of foreign labour are expected in the coming decades, they are unlikely to compensate for these negative effects. In this article it is argued...