This article, based on two books (2008, forthcoming), sets out principles for pension design: pension systems have multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be in a second-best context, different systems share risks differently and have...

Overview: Hopes tears and transformation / Nicholas Barr and Ralph W. Harbison -- The role of government in a market economy / Nicholas Barr -- The inheritance / Saul Estrin -- The forces driving change / Nicholas Barr -- Constraints on change / Nicholas Barr, Stanislav Gomulka, and Igor Tomes...