This paper summarizes the main findings of a survey that explores the relation between pension policy and private savings in Germany. The survey was conducted in February/March 2000. Similar surveys were conducted in France, Italy and Spain. Main aim of the survey was to explore how many workers...

This paper argues that the pay-as-you-go systems that dominate the old age social security programs in Europe cannot provide the flexibility necessary to master the demographic changes to come. They are locked between the Scylla of low pension levels and the Charybdis of high contribution rates....

Household saving is still little understood, and even the basic facts - for instance: How does saving change over the life cycle? Does saving turn negative in old age? - are controversial. This review article adds an international dimension to the many studies of saving. It presents the results...

All acros Europe, old age labor force participation has declined dramatically during the last decades. This secular trend coincides with population aging. The European social security systems therefore face a double threat: Retirees receive pensions for a longer time while there are less workers...

Demographic change presents major financing problems for the pay-as-you-go pension system. In response to these problems, the 2001 and 2004 German pension reforms reduced the statutory level of benefits from the pay-as-you system. The resulting pension gap is supposed to be filled by funded...

Incentive effects of pension systems are usually estimated under the assumption that the institutional environment provides a single optimal 'pathway' for retirement. However, many countries provide competing pathways which may include several early retirement options in addition to normal...

This paper measures capital productivity in West Germany, Japan and the United States and links capital productivity to financial performance. We show that West Germany and Japan have significantly lower levels of capital productivity than the United States, mainly due to lower capital...

This paper is motivated by the idea to create, wherever possible, rational mechanisms that adapt pension systems automatically to a changed economic and demographic environment, rather than to leave such adaptations to discretionary high-profile pension reforms which all too often stir political...

Germany relies almost exclusively on a public pay-as-you-go pension system for old-age income provision. This mandatory “retirement insurance” has become under severe pressure, mainly from population aging and from incentive effects that have reduced labor supply. This paper argues Germany...