The Netherlands has been operating fully funded, defined benefit second pillar pension schemes that have consistently ranked high worldwide for delivering high replacement rates while featuring strong solidarity among members. Yet the long-term sustainability of the Dutch pension funds has been...

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....

This paper explores the introduction of collective risk-reallocation elements in defined contribution pension contracts. We consider status-contingent, age-contingent and asset-contingent arrangements to reallocate risk among participants. Eliminating asset market risk for the retired raises...

Japan had over 3.21 million people enrolled in defined contribution (DC) plans as of end-March 2009. Although the plans are steadily gaining in popularity, there are still a number of issues that must be worked out. In this article, we propose some fundamental DC reforms, including making...

Pension reforms have been high on the political agenda in many developed countries over recent years and pension issues have been discussed intensely in the public as a result. In recent years, much effort has been devoted to make state, public and private pension systems fiscally more...

In the UK and elsewhere, defined benefit (DB) schemes are being replaced by defined contribution (DC) schemes. However DC schemes have some substantial weaknesses, and a continuation of current policies will probably lead to another pensions crisis in a few decades. There is an alternative which...

This chapter defines a universal public pension scheme (UPPS) as a government-mandated lifecycle longevity insurance scheme that transfers individual consumption from the working years to the retirement phase of the lifecycle. It discusses the differences in four UPPS designs defined with regard...