High charges for personal pensions were one factor in the personal pensions mis-selling debacle in the United Kingdom. They continued to arouse concern among politicians and commentators. The Labour government, with its new flagship 'stakeholder' pension, chose to regulate both the structure of...

This paper surveys a dozen international comparative studies of poverty, income distribution and older people in industrialized countries using data up to the mid-1990s. It addresses a series of questions. At what level are the incomes of the elderly relative to the population as a whole? How...

Reforming pensions looms large over the policy agenda of OECD countries. This is hardly surprising since public spending on pensions accounted on average for 7 per cent of OECD GDP in 2005; and this pension spending effort is set to increase significantly over the coming decades in response to...

There are separate pension schemes for civil servants (and often for other public-sector workers) in about half of the world’s countries, including some of the largest developing economies, such as Brazil, China and India. In the higher-income, OECD countries, spending on pensions for...

Reforming pensions is a central policy issue in developed and developing countries alike. However, it is challenging and controversial because it involves long-term planning by governments faced with numerous short-term pressures. Pension reform usually provokes heated ideological debates and,...

This paper calculates prospective pension entitlements for illustrative workers at different income levels in 15 OECD countries. The modelling includes universal and resource tested schemes, public and private earnings-related plans and mandatory defined contribution schemes. The paper includes...

Pension funds are an important part of private savings flows, the main supplier of capital to industry and play a large and growing role in providing retirement incomes in countries with mature funded pension systems. Reforms which increase the emphasis on privately managed, funded pensions must...

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- Executive Summary -- Acronyms and Abbreviations -- Glossary -- 1. Overview -- Chapter 2: Initial Conditions for Pension Reform -- Chapter 3: Taking Stock of Pension Systems in the Middle East and North Africa -- Chapter 4: A...

From April 1988, individuals were offered a new pensions option by the Government: the possibility of 'contracting out' of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) into an Approved Personal Pension. In a personal pension scheme, an individual accumulates his or her pension contributions...

The then Chancellor announced in his Budget Speech in 1989 that the 'earnings rule' for pensioners, which had been introduced in 1948, would be abolished from 1 October 1989. The rule reduced entitlements to the state pension if earnings were above a certain level. At the same time, the...