An ageing population is prompting the reform of pension systems. The Spanish pension system has undergone two consecutive reforms and a third one is currently being taking into consideration. All three involve the lengthening of the period used to calculate the size of pensions. This paper...

A popular proposal for reforming social security is to supplement or replace traditional publicly financed benefits with a new system of mandatory defined-contribution private pensions. Proponents claim that private plans offer better returns than traditional social security. To achieve higher...

Die Finanzierung der staatlichen Alterssicherungssysteme, die in allen Mitgliedsländern der Europäischen Union zum Kern der Systeme der sozialen Sicherung gehören, rückt immer mehr in den Mittelpunkt sozialpolitischer Diskussionen. Hierzu tragen drei Faktoren bei:Erstens, die für alle...

This paper provides an overview of the work of Herbert Simon and his ideas about rational decision making. By his own standards, Simon is an economist who works in the tradition of Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall. The central theme in Simon’s research is how human beings organize themselves in...