The statutory pension insurance system is set up according to the principle of participatory equivalence. This principle seeks to hold pension claims at a specific ratio to paid contributions so that a redistribution of income does not take place. In truth, however, there is a massive...

Die gesetzliche Rentenversicherung ist nach dem Prinzip der Teilhabe-Äquivalenz aufgebaut. Dies soll bewirken, dass die Rentenansprüche in einer bestimmten Relation zu den gezahlten Beiträgen stehen, also vorrangig keine Umverteilung stattfindet. In Wahrheit gibt es jedoch eine massive...

Declining fertility and increasing longevity have rendered public pension systems in many OECD countries unsustainable and have triggered substantial reforms of these systems. One of the officially declared reform objectives is to raise the average retirement age. Crucial parameters for this...

A crucial parameter for increasing the retirement age is the early-retirement discount of the public pension system. Critics of the present German system argue that the downward adjustment of the pension for early retirees is too small compared with a ‘fair’ system and thus encourages early...

In several OECD countries, public pay-as-you-go financed pension systems have undergone major reforms in which future retirement benefit promises have been scaled down. A consequence of these reforms is that especially in countries with a tight tax-benefit linkage, the retirement benefit claims...

Declining fertility and increasing longevity have rendered public pension systems in many OECD countries unsustainable and have triggered substantial reforms of these systems. One of the officially declared reform objectives is to raise the average retirement age. Crucial parameters for this...