This paper analyzes the reform of the pensionable age as an answer to the future financing problems of public pension systems. We use a two-staged model where, first, the government decides the redistribution level of the pension system and, secondly, individuals face a voting process on the...

In several developed countries, the ageing process of the population may pose fiscal risks to the PAYG systems of public pensions. This paper studies the determinants of two forms of accessing retirement in Spain, either partial or full retirement. Our goal is to identify if social security...

Mit dem Altersvermögens- und Altersvermögensergänzungsgesetz (2001) vollzog sich ein Paradigmenwechsel in der Alterssicherung hin zu einem verstärkt eigenverantwortlichen Aufbau kapitalgedeckter Altersvorsorge. Das Versorgungsniveau im Alter hängt in der Folge zunehmend von dem...

This article examines recent pension reforms in OECD countries. All countries are facing the challenge of designing both financially and socially sustainable pension policies in a context of weak economic growth, low financial returns and ageing populations. In some cases, countries have been...

Thanks to the reform process between 1992 and 2007, Germany was in a very good position to master demographic change. These reforms were farsighted, they stabilised the public pension system and they significantly increased employment, the foundation of every old age provision. The “Pension...

Demographic change inevitably shifts the balance between contributors and recipients in the pension system. Moreover, in the German pension system benefit levels are closely linked to the current state of economic prosperity. Therefore, in the coming decades stabilisation of old-age security...

The main purpose of minimum pension benefit programs and old-age social assistance programs is to guarantee a minimum standard of living after retirement and thus to alleviate poverty in old age. In many developing and developed countries, the minimum pension program is a key welfare program and...

Social security programs generally seek to provide insurance and to reduce poverty and inequality. Providing insurance requires little redistribution. But reducing inequality and alleviating poverty do require redistribution. To reduce inequality, programs must redistribute income, but...

Obwohl sich die Zahl der Menschen, die Grundsicherung im Alter beziehen, seit Einführung dieser Transferleistung im Jahr 2003 beinahe verdoppelt hat, Ende 2012 bereits knapp 465 000 Ältere im Durchschnitt mit etwas mehr als 700 Euro pro Monat auskommen mussten und die Dunkelziffer der...