We empirically investigate the distributional consequences of the Riester scheme, the main private pension subsidization program in Germany. We find that 38% of the aggregate subsidy accrues to the top two deciles of the population, but only 7.3% to the bottom two. Nonetheless the Riester scheme...

The stock market collapse led to political tensions between generations due to the fuzzy definition of the property rights over the pension funds’ wealth. The problem is best resolved by the introduction of generational accounts. Modern consumption and portfolio theory shows that the younger...

As Ontario pushes ahead with pension reform to improve retirement security for its citizens, it should consider a “middle-way” solution between current competing visions for reform, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe institute. In “Helping Ontarians Save for Retirement:...

The primary motivation for retirement savings policy is the view that many of us, if left to our own devices, will not save enough for retirement. Special tax subsidies for employer-sponsored retirement plans — a principal component of the federal policy scheme — have made such plans the...

The main aim of the study is to identify the size of the pension gap in Poland and to estimate the level of supplementary savings needed to cover it. The issue of pension system income adequacy is first discussed, and the forecasted and targeted levels of replacement rates in Poland are...

This article aims to verify the development prospects of the Pan‑European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) in the European Union (EU). It focuses on the relationship between the quality of domestic public pension schemes and household savings for old age in the EU member and candidate...

How much retirement income is needed in order to maintain one's living standard at old age? As it is difficult to find a firm basis for an empirical treatment of this question, we employ a novel approach to assessing an adequate replacement rate vis- a-vis income in the pre-retirement period. We...

Analyses of pension funding effects on economic growth need to differentiate between "carve-out" pension privatization in Latin America and Eastern Europe and typical "add-on" pension funding in Western Europe and North America. We find no evidence that pension privatization in Latin America and...

This paper investigates the effect of the introduction of tax free retirement accounts on the savings behavior of Mexican households. The paper contributes empirical evidence to the debate about whether preferential tax treatment is an effective policy tool to encourage household savings.The...