The earnings-related pension system is partially pre-funded in Finland and has currently large reserves. This has roused debate whether the pension funds should take a more active role in promoting employment, growth and domestic ownership of the firms. We analyse the justifications presented...

Many elderly people could markedly increase they standard of living by releasing housing equity. Purchase of a life annuity would increase the benefits of this release. Focusing on the Finnish case, we analyze the fiscal implications of different forms of housing equity release. We take into...

All practical evaluations of fiscal sustainability that include the effects of population ageing must utilize demographic forecasts. It is well known that such forecasts are uncertain, and that has been taken into account in some studies by using stochastic population projections jointly with...

Pension prefunding can be used to smoothe contribution rates in economies where ageing will increase pension expenditure. But how extensive should prefunding be, in a defined benefit pension system, when there is considerable uncertainty concerning future mortality, fertility, and migration? We...

This study analyses financial sustainability of the Finnish public sector. Current tax rates are unlikely to yield sufficient tax revenue for financing public expenditure under an ageing population. The estimate of the sustainability gap is 2 1/2 per cent of GDP, for the period 2010 - 2060. The...