The ongoing global financial crisis, coupled with the continued dramatic increases in life expectancy, have escalated the concerns countries have regarding the sustainability of their pension systems and how these retirement schemes will be financed. From 1998 to 2008, close to 30 countries embarked on privatising reforms to their pension programs. Some of thesecountries introduced new pension reforms directed at private individual accounts while reducing the size of the state social security system. The focus of other reforms during this period varied but was primarily aimed at strengthening basic protection for economically atrisk older individuals, increasing benefit coverage and/or improving the overall fiscalsustainability of these systems. However, the move towards greater coverage and sustainability was interrupted by the world-wide financial meltdown. This has led to a reassessment of pension systems and reform approaches.
This volume was assembled to review the status of pension reforms globally and to gain aglimpse of the trends emerging as countries adjust to the new age of macroeconomic world-wide uncertainty.
The chapters in this volume provide concise, clear and dispassionate discussions on these trends and reforms as well as frank appraisals of the consequences of alternative policies. Experts from Europe, the United States and the emerging economies of Brazil, China and India approach pension reform and reassessment from different perspectives; however, each provide forthright analyses and assessment of the consequences of the "new normal".
Financing a Fair & Efficient Pension System: Issues & Solutions; A
Reassessment of the Sustainability of Pension Reforms in Europe; Pension
Privatisation By Choice; Structural & Actuarially-Related Pension Reform in
Ireland; The Impact of Austerity Policies on Pensions during the Financial
Crisis: Lessons From a Mediterranean Perspective; Retirement Security in the
United States: The Need to Reform; Public Disability Insurance Programs in
the Context of Pension Reforms; Pension Reform in the Face of Legal
Challenges; The End of the Defined Pension Paradigm in Government: More
than Fiscal Sustainability; From Pension to 401(k): A Case Study of Public
Sector Retirement in Michigan; Population Aging & the Rising Costs of Public
Pension in Brazil; Pension Funds for Civil Servants in Brazil; New-Type Rural
Public Pension, Altruistic Motive & Income Growth; An Assessment of Indias
Recent Pension Reforms; Index
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