Unfunded Pension Systems: Ageing and Migration Vol: 264


Product Details
Format:
Hardback
ISBN:
9780444517326
Published:
Publisher:
Elsevier Science Ltd
Dimensions:
284 pages - 221 x 286 x 17mm
Series:
Contributions to Economic Analysis
List price £102.99 List price €144.99 List price $183.99

Categories:

Categories:
Pension systems in most industrialised countries are unfunded, i.e. they are pay-as-you-go financed and thus depend on a well-balanced ratio (old) recipients to (young) contributors. This so-called dependency ratio will worsen significantly in the next few decades due to two developments: ageing of the population and increased labour mobility. This book analyses the viability of unfunded pension systems in the presence of the projected demographic evolution. The analysis focuses on questions concerning: efficiency considerations and the possibility of welfare improvements; political economy aspects and the feasibility of reforms, and; the process of European integration and its influence on national pension systems. The theoretical analysis is complemented in numerous ways by quantitative parts and institutional details. The consequences of the demographic crisis for the distribution of the pension burden within and across generations and in an international context are illustrated with respect to the specific situation in Germany and other European countries. It is shown for different settings of political power distribution and for different degrees of mobility what would happen without any reforms and what could and should be done to guarantee the survival of old-age security based on a fair sharing of the pension burden. Neither explosion nor erosion is the inevitable fate of unfunded pension systems. But to avoid either happening, fundamental reforms are necessary as soon as possible which loosen at least partially the intergenerational dependencies and thus reduce the pressure from the changing population structure on old-age security.

Abbreviated. Preface. 1. Introduction. 1.1 Focus of the analysis. 1.2 Structure and overview. 2. Unfunded Pension Systems. 2.1 Mechanisms of unfunded and funded pension systems. 2.2 The concept of implicit taxes and implicit debt. 2.3 Conclusion. 3.Projected development of fundamental factors. 3.1 Determinants of the population growth. 3.2 Development of the total population. 3.3 Conclusion. 4. Country studies. 4.1 Characteristics of pension systems. 4.2 Recent reforms of pension systems. 4.3 Conclusion. 5. Welfare analysis of pension reforms. 5.1 Intergenerationally efficient reforms. 5.2 Intrapersonally efficient reforms. 6. Political feasibility of pension reforms. 6.1 Intergenerational redistribution. 6.2 Voting model. 6.3 Feasibility of pension reforms. 6.4 Conclusion. 7. Mobility as a counterforce to gerontocracy. 7.1 Voting model with mobility. 7.2 Mobility as a commitment device. 8. Qualitative aspects of migration. 8.1 Description of the data. 8.2 Estimation of the intention to migrate. 8.3 Conclusion. 9. Sustainability of pension systems with systems competition. 9.1 Status Quo. 9.2 Theoretical results when pension systems are similar. 9.3 Institutional distribution of competence between the national and the European level. 9.4 Comparison of the theoretical and institutional results. 9.5 Alternative options when pension systems are different. 9.6 Conclusion. 10. Conclusion. References. Symbol glossary. Subject index.

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