Germany relies almost exclusively on a public pay-as-you-go pension system for old-age in-come 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...

This paper provides a critical review of the pension reform strategy which turns defined benefits (DB) public pay-as-you-go systems into notional defined contribution (NDC) systems. We show that properly designed NDC public pension systems contain powerful economic and political mechanisms that...

Der demographische Wandel ist auch für Hessen einer der „Megatrends“ dieses Jahrhunderts, der die politische, soziale und ökonomische Situation des Landes entscheidend verändern wird. In 25 Jahren wird jeder dritte Bürger Hessens 60 Jahre oder älter sein. Relativ zur Zahl der 20...

This paper has two parts. Part 1 presents the basic ideas underlying notional defined contribution (NDC) systems and discusses their main advantages and disadvantages. We argue that a NDC system is mainly a political device. It makes parametric reform, badly needed to stabilize the pay-as-you-go...

National housing markets differ in many aspects, making cross-national studies a fascinating subject. This article sheds light on housing demand in Germany and Japan. The primary task undertaken is to separate cross-national differences in the structure of housing demand by differing preferences...

This mea discussion paper presents excerpts of the International Savings Comparison Project covering household savings behaviour in seven countries. The whole series of comparative country studies can be found in a special issue of the journal “Research in Economicsâ€, Volume 55, Number...

Um eine Gewichtsverschiebung zwischen den einzelnen Säulen der Alterssicherung zu erreichen, wurden in den vergangenen Jahren auch die Rahmenbedingungen für die betriebliche Altersvorsorge verbessert. So wurde für Arbeitnehmer der Anspruch auf Entgeltumwandlung eingeführt, was erlaubt, Teile...

This paper introduces the ‘Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe’ (SHARE). The 2004 baseline study collects data on the individual life circumstances of about 27,000 persons aged 50 and over in 11 European countries, ranging from Scandinavia across Western and Central...

Ageing is one of the greatest social and economic challenges of the 21st century in Europe. SHARE, a EU-sponsored project that will build up a Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, will be a fundamental resource for science and public policy to help mastering this unprecedented...