In 2010, increasing the retirement age became a focal point of Social Security reform proposals. In a controversial move, President Obama's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform recommended increasing the full retirement age from 67 to 69 and the age at which...

This policy brief is designed to raise awareness of the current and future economic circumstances of older women, and the ways in which Social Security reform can help alleviate their unmet needs. It considers the gaps in benefit adequacy and economic security that are not addressed by current...

This paper contains nine different essays on Social Security reform and multi-pillar pension plans. The nine topics are: 1. Transition costs2. Progressive indexation3. Government guarantees on private accounts4. Life cycle investing5. Impact of add-on accounts on Social Security solvency6....

The Social Security program has received a great deal of attention recently as President Bush has been pushing for the inclusion of individual accounts within the program. The president has not specified a detailed proposal, but one of the reform models (Model 2) that was outlined by his...

This paper surveys the most significant problems of the pension systems of EU11 countries. These nations had to transform their old-age social security systems after replacing a state-socialist economic order with a capitalist one. Stressing common as well as specific features, our paper...

Can the freedom to choose how retirement funds are invested leave workers worse off? We analyze social risks of allowing choice, using the Social Security system as an example. Comparing a privatized alternative with the current system via simulation, we document that choice in both equity...

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...

In aging societies, information on how to reform pension systems is essential to policy makers. This study scrutinizes effects of early retirement disincentives on retirement behavior, individual welfare, pensions and public budget. We employ administrative pension data and a detailed model of...

This paper examines the empirical link between retirement and the supply of volunteer labor, using panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. To identify the causal impact, we exploit a major reform of the Australian Age Pension which has significantly...