This paper explores the welfare effects of a number of collective pension contracts, distinguishing between the two welfare effects. We find that collective schemes can be either superior or inferior to individual schemes. Collective pension contracts allow for intergenerational risk sharing...

The credit crisis has reduced the funding ratios of Dutch pension funds to a historical minimum. Pension funds now face two challenges. The first is to timely restore funding ratios to safe levels without jeopardizing labour market conditions that also have worsened because of the crisis. The...

This paper stems from the observation that there are two world-wide trends, pension reform and population ageing, and asks whether the two may be related. Exploring the cases of pension reform in different countries, we find that, although they are very different, the cases share a common...

Collective pension contracts allow for intergenerational risk sharing with the unborn. They therefore imply a higher level of social welfare than individual accounts. Collective pension contracts also imply a sub-optimal allocation of consumption across time periods and states of nature however....