Journal articles on the topic 'Pensions – Government policy'
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1
Gibson, Dot. "Standing up for today's and tomorrow's pensioners." Quality in Ageing and Older Adults 16, no. 1 (March 9, 2015): 14–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/qaoa-11-2014-0034.
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Purpose – The National Pensioners’ Convention aims to challenge the case for current government policies to raise the age of retirement from paid work and to diversify routes to and amounts of pensions entitlement. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This policy-oriented commentary draws on evidence and arguments presented in the National Pensioners’ Convention Manifesto about the relative affluence of socio-economic class groups and their length of life after 65. Findings – In contrast to government claims of simplifying pensions by introducing single-tier state pensions, three different pension schemes will coexist for many years and in many cases these will provide less than current entitlements. Other universal pensioner benefits such as concessionary travel and winter fuel payments are now also the target of financial cost savings. Access to home care and residential care is increasingly restricted by service cuts and wider means testing. Practical implications – National Pensioners’ Convention Manifesto argues that the standard of care and support for older people needs to be guaranteed to be set above current poverty levels, to be linked to price and consumer indices and earnings, for universal pensioner benefits to be maintained, for a National Health and Care Service to be free at the point of use, funded through taxation and for standards to be improved through a legally binding Dignity code. Originality/value – This commentary expresses the views of a non-party campaigning organisation run by pensioners themselves to highlight their case for ways in which they may gain increased rather than decreased support for maintaining active living in later life.
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FRIEDBERG, LEORA. "Labor market aspects of state and local retirement plans: a review of evidence and a blueprint for future research." Journal of Pension Economics and Finance 10, no. 2 (April 2011): 337–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1474747211000072.
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AbstractTraditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans remain the overwhelming norm for teachers, policemen and other employees of state and local governments. The incentives for workers with DB pension plans to stay in their jobs shift dramatically over the course of their careers. Moreover, limited transferability of pension wealth across states and between public and private jobs impedes mobility in the labor market. Yet, little is known about the labor market effects of pensions on state and local government workers. The literature on private-employer pensions has made contributions on some of these fronts in recent years that can shed light on policy concerns raised by the possibility that pension plans will be modified in coming years. Moreover, some of the limitations constraining research on pensions may be overcome by focusing on government workers, with recent work on public school teachers pointing the way. Very recent studies are finding strong retirement responses to age- and tenure-related incentives built into state pension plans.
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RING, PATRICK JOHN. "Security in Pension Provision: A Critical Analysis of UK Government Policy." Journal of Social Policy 34, no. 3 (June 15, 2005): 343–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047279405008810.
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The Labour government has often argued that it is attempting to find a ‘third way’ in politics, appearing to take its inspiration from Anthony Giddens and, in relation to Labour's pensions policy, Giddens' notion of ‘positive welfare’.Noting that the government maintains that ‘pensions are all about security’, and that it has declared the importance of this position throughout its reform of UK pension provision, this article critically examines the nature of the ‘security’ its reform is likely to deliver. Using the work of Giddens, it notes the importance of the concept of ontological security, and the relevance of trust to security. From this basis, and drawing upon the work of both Giddens and Niklas Luhmann, it goes on to consider whether the government's reforms of the three pillars of pension provision in the UK – state provision, occupational provision and personal provision – are capable of delivering greater security in pension provision.It concludes that, quite apart from the potential criticisms of the conception of positive welfare itself, the government's apparent adoption of such an approach has failed to appreciate adequately the importance of ontological security to any understanding of welfare. As a consequence, it is suggested that the practical outcome is reform that is likely to create much less security in pension provision than either Giddens' approach, or indeed regular government pronouncements, might suggest.
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PRICE, DEBORA. "Closing the Gender Gap in Retirement Income: What Difference Will Recent UK Pension Reforms Make?" Journal of Social Policy 36, no. 4 (August 8, 2007): 561–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047279407001183.
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AbstractThe second report of the Pensions Commission sought to establish a framework for a sustainable pension system for future generations of pensioners in the UK. The framework has been largely accepted by government in their recent White Paper, Security in Retirement: Towards a New Pension System (2006). Legislation will follow. The Commission and the government have made a number of claims about how their proposals will benefit women. Reforms have been welcomed by women's lobby groups. This article presents a gendered analysis of the Pensions Commission proposals using unpublished data generated by Pensim2, a pensions' simulator developed by the Department for Work and Pensions. Substantial improvements for women will be in the long term only, and will depend heavily on the extent to which gendered patterns of work and family life change in future. For women who follow traditional paths of combining part-time work with looking after children and kin, outcomes will depend on partnering arrangements. If they are married or cohabiting, they will be better off; but if they live alone in later life, the principal advantage of the proposals will be a reduction in means testing rather than an improvement in levels of income.
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Biggs, Andrew G. "The Long-Term Solvency of Teacher Pension Plans: How We Got to Now and Prospects for Recovery." Educational Researcher 52, no. 2 (February 17, 2023): 98–115. http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0013189x221093352.
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The COVID-related financial market decline and economic recession have raised new concerns regarding the financial sustainability of retirement plans for state and local government employees, the largest group of whom is public school teachers. Using data from the Public Plans Database and the National Income and Product Accounts, I analyze teacher pension plans over the 2001–2019 period, seeking to answer questions regarding teacher pensions’ funded status, investment decisions and returns, adequacy of contributions, and generosity of benefits. These data show that teacher pension funding peaked at the beginning of the 2001–2019 period due to the tech bubble’s inflation of asset values, but then it declined thereafter due to investment returns that significantly underperformed assumptions, failures by sponsoring governments to consistently make full contributions, and increases in the generosity of pension benefits. School districts will face substantial funding challenges in the post-COVID period, as investment losses are factored into contribution rates, government revenues available to make contributions shrink, and education funding from state governments comes under pressure. I outline several policy alternatives that policymakers may consider, but none would make restoring teacher pensions to full funding a painless process.
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Vidová, Jarmila, and Peter Sika. "Christmas Allowance as a Non-System Tool for Sustainability of Quality of Life of Slovak Seniors." Sustainability 12, no. 9 (May 7, 2020): 3810. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12093810.
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Creating conditions for a sustainable level of quality of life for older people is considered the dominant priority when setting up the pension system with an emphasis on the income situation of Slovak seniors for old-age pensions. An old-age pension as a systemic benefit is an important element in maintaining the quality of life of older people. The amount of old-age pensions is currently at the center of discussions between institutions and the Government of the Slovak Republic. A major social but also economic problem in the coming decade will be how to maintain the income of older people, pensioners, needed to ensure their sustainable quality of life. In particular, it is necessary to ensure that pensioners receive sufficient income so that they do not become a population at risk of poverty as the groups at risk of poverty or social exclusion also includes people over the age of 65. The paper focuses on the analysis of the socio-economic situation of Slovak pensioners in the Slovak Republic in connection with material deprivation. At the same time we analyze the Christmas contribution as a non-systemic benefit which, on the one hand, has a positive social impact on the recipients of pension benefits who are entitled to the Christmas benefit but, on the other hand, has a negative impact on the general government budget.
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Yeh, Chung-Yang, Hyunwook Cheng, and Shih-Jiunn Shi. "Public–private pension mixes in East Asia: institutional diversity and policy implications for old-age security." Ageing and Society 40, no. 3 (September 25, 2018): 604–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x18001137.
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AbstractPrevious studies of East Asian welfare regimes focus on similarities between social security schemes. In contrast, this paper explores cross-national variations in public–private pension mixes in six welfare states: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Our research echoes the pension policy analysis of international organisations but takes a step forward with emphasis on the historical and institutional characteristics of the respective pension systems. The analysis identifies three institutional patterns. First, the statist pension system (Taiwan and China) primarily relies on public pensions to provide old-age security, with private pensions playing a rather minor role. Second, in the dualist pension system (Japan and Korea) both public and private pensions work in parallel to ensure retirement income, though a clear security gap exists between workers in the formal and informal economies. Finally, the individualist pension system (Hong Kong and Singapore) is characterised by genuine fully funded individual accounts, emphasising citizens’ own responsibilities for ensuring old-age security. These three types of pension systems demonstrate distinct institutional characteristics and policy outcomes, illustrated by the juxtaposition of their institutional structures as well as by the comparison of key indicators collected from government reports and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development statistics. The paper concludes with a theoretical reflection of East Asian pension policies and a diagnosis of the distinct challenges confronted by each of the various pension patterns.
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Turner, Claire. "Work, pensions and poverty: a better deal under the next government." Quality in Ageing and Older Adults 16, no. 1 (March 9, 2015): 22–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/qaoa-11-2014-0041.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how the next government could develop a better deal in relation to work, pensions and poverty. The paper argues that given the changing face of poverty, the next government should focus on creating better jobs if it is really to encourage people to work longer and save more for retirement. Furthermore, it could do more to support those who are currently under-saving for retirement. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on evidence from a number of recent qualitative and quantitative JRF research reports and government statistical data. Findings – The paper suggests policy recommendations for the next government focused on creating better jobs and helping those on lower incomes increase their pension pots. This includes: ensuring that the minimum wages is set with regard to the changing price of essentials and changing average earnings; raising awareness of the Living Wage and playing a leadership role; industrial strategies for low paid sectors; mid-life career reviews and increased rights for those aged 60 and over; the redistribution of tax relief on pension contributions and the auto-escalation of workplace pensions. Originality/value – This paper looks at the issue of an ageing society, work and pensions through a poverty lens.
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ZHU, HUOYUN, and ALAN WALKER. "Pensions and social inclusion in an ageing China." Ageing and Society 39, no. 7 (June 6, 2018): 1335–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x17001593.
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ABSTRACTThe inclusive development strategy proposed by the Chinese government embraces social inclusion for older people. In line with most developing countries, China's policy on social inclusion for older people focuses almost exclusively on material security in the form of pensions. This paper examines the impact of pensions on social inclusion for older people across four dimensions: family interaction, social support, social participation and self-assessment using data from the 2014 China Longitudinal Ageing Social Survey. The results demonstrate that pensions improve dramatically the relationships between older adults and their family members and friends, and therefore their social inclusion in the life world. The exception is social participation which seems to be immune to material income effects. However, the stratified pension system in China generates complex and hierarchical effects on social inclusion among different sub-groups. Social inclusion among older people with high exclusion risks but low pensions is very sensitive to pension levels. Conversely, most pensions are distributed to those with the lowest exclusion risks as a result of the disappearance of their impact on social inclusion. We argue that future social inclusion policies for older people in China should focus first on achieving greater equality in pensions.
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HENNESSY, ALEXANDRA. "Explaining German Selectivity Regarding European Union Pension Directives." Journal of Public Policy 28, no. 3 (December 2008): 341–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0143814x08000925.
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ABSTRACTWhy do German policymakers support some aspects of a single European pension market, but not others? This article argues that the German government’s preferences towards European Union (EU) pension directives are best explained by combining historical institutionalism (HI) and domestic discourse analysis (DA). Each approach by itself is insufficient to account for the observed variation between 1991 and 2007. Arguments based on party ideologies offer less explanatory power. HI explains why all governments – Kohl, Schröder, and Merkel – protected employer-sponsored book reserve pensions, a cornerstone of Germany’s coordinated market economy, from the scope of EU directives. DA allows us to grasp how interests were reframed. While the status quo stance of the Kohl government succeeded in delegitimizing supporters of alternative pension security concepts, the Schröder administration imposed an economically efficient pension reform without much public support. The grand coalition, in turn, abandoned Chancellor Merkel’s initial plan to expand second-tier pensions in the light of rising pressures that the Left Party posed for the Social Democratic coalition partner.
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Kaye, Geraldine. "Topical Pension Problems (A Personal Overview)." Journal of the Staple Inn Actuarial Society 28 (March 1985): 115–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020269x00009762.
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Much discussion is taking place currently in the United Kingdom on the subject of pensions. Conferences and symposia have been conducted at various times on many aspects of pensions by such diverse bodies as the Policy Studies Institute (1), the Institute of Fiscal Studies (2), the Trades Union Congress (3), the Pensions Management Institute, the Confederation of British Industry, the National Association of Pension Funds and even our own Institute (4) (in the case of our Institute, on the whole field). The Government announced an all-embracing enquiry on 16 December 1983. This has been divided into separate parts. Evidence for the first part concerned with ‘portable pensions’ was required by 31 January 1984. Despite the very tight deadline, written evidence was obtained from over 1,500 different sources. This serves to show just how much interest was currently being aroused. The final results of the full Government enquiry are not yet available (September 1984). The unprecedented speed with which the Government has proceeded demonstrates the importance that it attaches to the issues raised, and suggests that any prompted legislation will be given a degree of priority.
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Rogers, Edmund. "A ‘most imperial’ contribution: New Zealand and the old age pensions debate in Britain, 1898–1912." Journal of Global History 9, no. 2 (May 23, 2014): 189–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1740022814000035.
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AbstractThe extent of imperial influences upon nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British life, including in the development of social policy, has attracted significant scholarly interest in the past decade. The bearing of New Zealand's 1898 Old-Age Pensions Act upon the British debate over elderly poverty exemplifies the contested transfer of social policy ideas from settler colony to ‘Mother Country’. Reformers in Britain hailed a model non-contributory pension system with an imperial pedigree. However, the widely acknowledged distinction between ‘old’ countries such as Britain, and ‘new’ countries of English-speaking settlement, characterized the New Zealand example's reception. While progressives identified the colony as a ‘clean slate’ lacking the obstructive historical inheritance of the Poor Law, critics of state-funded pensions warned against drawing policy-making lessons from New Zealand. Yet when a reformist Liberal government introduced an Old Age Pensions Bill in 1908, it used Britain's age to justify the legislation's relative conservatism.
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BEZPALENKO, Olha. "Economic and social indicators of solidarity pension insurance in Ukraine." Economics. Finances. Law, no. 4 (April 29, 2021): 16–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.37634/efp.2021.4.3.
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Problems of pension provision, in particular, solidarity pension insurance, are under constant concern of scientists, the majority of the working population, pensioners, government officials and other stakeholders. The main issues of discussion are: social justice and insecurity, material security, financial imbalance and insolvency of the pension budget and others. The solution of these issues and the adoption of the appropriate decisions for further reform of the pension system should be based on a detailed assessment of various socio-economic factors. The aim of this work is to substantiate the problem of financial balance of the Pension Fund budget, generalize the impact of economic and social indicators on the level of solidarity pensions in Ukraine, and identify key aspects for solving urgent issues of reforming the national pension system. Ukrainian scientists have studied the following: the analysis of revenues and expenditures of the Pension Fund budget, the impact of certain factors on the development of pension insurance, foreign experience of pension provision and the possibility of its application in the pension system of Ukraine. The system of state pension insurance needs a deeper assessment, outlining the main directions of its further development and solving urgent issues in this area. The paper uses a systematic method to determine the role and place of pensions in social protection of the population; methods of synthesis, analysis, comparison to consider the demographic situation of the population, the number of retirees, the size of pensions, individual indicators of income; factor analysis in order to determine the influence of factors on the development of the solidarity pension system; graphical method for displaying the structure of budget revenues of the Pension Fund of Ukraine and its dynamics; hypothetical-deductive method for formulating conclusions and further prospects for the development of the national pension system. There were proposed the following main directions for solving the problems of solidarity pension insurance: joining the accumulative component to the existing solidarity pension system and their full functioning; reducing budget deficit of the Pension Fund due to the transfer of non-insurance functions of the solidarity system to the State budget; revision of the formula for calculating pensions and establishing closer relationship between insurance contributions and insurance payments; improving employment policy and investment policy in the pension assets management.
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SCHMÄHL, WINFRIED. "Dismantling an Earnings-Related Social Pension Scheme: Germany's New Pension Policy." Journal of Social Policy 36, no. 2 (March 5, 2007): 319–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047279406000626.
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A paradigm shift in pension policy decided by the German red–green coalition government will considerably affect the level and structure of pension benefits as well as the mix of public and private old-age security arrangements. The article starts with a brief outline of the pension schemes as they had been designed before the recent decisions, and with a few remarks on the reasons for current reform debates. The major measures of the 2001 Pension Reform are then described. The focus of the article is on the effects of the reform for (personal) income distribution and institutional design. A partial shift from (mandatory) public (pay-as-you-go financed) pensions to (voluntary) private (capital-funded) pensions and from defined benefit towards defined contribution will, among other things, reduce the benefit level in the social pension insurance. A large number of contributors – even after many years of paying contributions – will only receive benefits below the social assistance level. It can be expected that this development will transform the present earnings-related statutory pension scheme – which has a strong contribution–benefit link and is aimed at income smoothing over the lifecycle – into a basic, highly redistributive pension scheme, aimed mainly at avoiding poverty. Income inequality in old age is expected to increase as a result of the new strategy in pension policy.
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Upite, Inese, and Feliciana Rajevska. "Development of service pension policy in Latvia from 1996 until 2016." SHS Web of Conferences 51 (2018): 03011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20185103011.
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The government made a decision to terminate the development of the service pension in 1997. However, during 1998–2016 the scope of service pension beneficiaries was extended. Thereby along with the overall social insurance pension system, the social pension scheme has been established and developed for a certain range of people funded by the state budget – the system of the service pension. The aim of the article is to explore the development of the service pension policy during 1996–2016. To accomplish it, in the framework of the study concepts related to the service pensions and the tendencies of reformation of the service pension schemes were studied. The international practice and the experience of several countries were explored, as well as the analysis of legal acts, policy planning papers and statistics was performed. The purpose of the service pension has changed and diversified, moreover, the issues regarding the service pension coverage are promoted by a group of politicians, escaping a wider discussion in public and even in the government.
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Katelouzou, Dionysia, and Eva Micheler. "Investor Capitalism, Sustainable Investment and the Role of Tax Relief." European Business Organization Law Review 23, no. 1 (January 31, 2022): 217–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40804-021-00232-0.
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AbstractThis contribution examines the connection between investor capitalism and sustainable investment. It will be observed in this article that investor capitalism has gone through a structural change. Individual investors have been replaced by funds. Financial service providers have emerged that assist investors in managing and holding investments. This development coincided and was arguably facilitated by the growth in workplace and personal pensions. Pensions are subsidised by the government through tax relief. This financial contribution of the government is justified on social policy grounds. But it has the effect that pension savers, who receive substantial return by saving tax, are deprived of a reason to take an interest in how their money is invested. This not only deprives the service providers assisting pension savers from oversight from their ultimate customers. It also can help to explain why pension savers do not actively select investment products but rely on the default settings suggested by their employers. If the government is serious about encouraging investor capitalism to bring about sustainable business it should start with its own financial contribution, which has coincided with the emergence of the current model of investor capitalism, and connect pension tax relief to sustainable investment practices.
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Holtemöller, Oliver, Christoph Schult, and Götz Zeddies. "Zu den rentenpolitischen Plänen im Koalitionsvertrag 2018 von CDU, CSU und SPD: Konsequenzen, Finanzierungsoptionen und Reformbedarf." Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik 67, no. 3 (December 1, 2018): 247–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/zfwp-2018-0016.
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Abstract In the coalition agreement from February 7, 2018, the new German federal government drafts its public pension policy, which has to be evaluated against the background of demographic dynamics in Germany. In this paper, the consequences of public pensions related policy measures for the German public pension insurance are illustrated using a simulation model. In the long run, the intended extensions of benefits would lead to an increase in the contribution rate to the German public pension insurance of about two and a half percentage points. Referring to pension systems of other countries, we discuss measures in order to limit this increase in the contribution rate.
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Ring, Patrick, Rune Ervik, and Tord Skogedal Lindén. "Justifying pension reforms: Comparing policy discourses in Norway and the UK." European Journal of Social Security 22, no. 3 (September 2020): 306–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1388262720950736.
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The latest UK and Norwegian state pension reforms have reflected contrasting policy design in the balance of private pensions, savings and state provision. Nevertheless, we argue that both governments have in many ways adopted strikingly similar approaches in seeking public acceptance of these potentially controversial reforms, employing a similar repertoire of discursive elements to persuade populations about their logic and rationality. Based on critical analysis of government policy papers, speeches and parliamentary debates, we find that both countries emphasise ‘sustainability’ and ‘fairness’ within an increasingly individualised context where both systems are characterized as facilitating individuals’ efforts to attain security in retirement through ‘choice’ or ‘flexibility’. Significantly, contrasting symbolic metaphors are adopted to situate these reforms, and their proponents, within the heritage and traditions of their different welfare systems, which we find is a key element in successfully implementing the reforms. We note the implications of this research for the analysis of European state pension reform.
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BUCKLEY, CYNTHIA. "Obligations and expectations: renegotiating pensions in the Russian Federation." Continuity and Change 13, no. 2 (August 1998): 317–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0268416097003032.
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Changing established systems of government entitlement is a thorny proposition, even for popular states with sturdy holds on the reigns of power. The Russian Federation, in the throes of a severe economic downturn, extreme political instability and social crisis, has nonetheless altered the official stance toward forms of entitlement from the previous regime. Benefits cut from the ‘social contract’ have included guaranteed employment, free post-secondary education and access to state-subsidized apartments, in attempts to redefine the lines of authority and responsibility between citizens and the state. Other lines of responsibility appear sacrosanct. The Soviet pension system, more specifically the old age and service pensions, remains in place, but with extreme delays in payment, poor indexing to the cost of living and high levels of tax evasion.In this article I examine the ways in which both the legacy of Soviet pension policies and post-1991 economic and social trends have constrained policy options concerning pension reform, particularly in reference to old age pensions, and prevented a serious re-evaluation of pension provision. The Russian Federation government inherited a pension system ill-equipped to cope with its aging population. However, the previous pension system did deliver payments on a regular basis to nearly one in five citizens before 1991. Unlike other areas of often unfulfillable social services guarantees (housing for families, quality health care and free access to higher education), the pension system represented a Soviet social programme that provided consistent direct assistance to a large proportion of the population. Pension payments were an expected entitlement.
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Reuter, Norbert. "Generationengerechtigkeit in der Wirtschaftspolitik." PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft 30, no. 121 (December 1, 2000): 547–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v30i121.759.
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The new red-green government in Germany follows in economic policy the neoliberal aim of forced public debt reduction. Also the system of public pensions plans (with costs shared by employers and employees) will be reorganised, giving private pension funds payed by employees alone more weight. Both measures shall improve inter-generational justice. This claim is criticized as well in a fundamental manner as in consideration of the german situation.
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Diakovych, Lina. "Problematic aspects of the regulatory and legislative framework for calculating pensions in Ukraine." Herald of Ternopil National Economic University, no. 2(92) (March 3, 2019): 71–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.35774/visnyk2019.02.071.
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Introduction. In order to further move towards the European Economic Area, Ukraine needs to take pension reform measures. Pension provision in Ukraine has to be profoundly reformed in terms of regulatory and legislative framework for calculating pensions in Ukraine. What is of particular importance is improving Ukraine’s laws and methods for calculation and pension payments to citizens. Another important focus of the reform agenda is to define categories of people eligible for old-age pensions, disability pensions, and long- service pensions. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to interpret the regulatory and legislative framework for calculating pensions in Ukraine; to describe changes in pension payments before and after the reform was implemented; to highlight ways of improving pension payments in terms of regulations and legislation. Methods. The research methods used in the article include: analysis; comparison; historical method to consider the legislative framework for calculating pensions at different periods of time. Results. The regulatory and legal framework for calculating pensions in Ukraine is a complex system comprising the Constitution of Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine, the Labour Code of Ukraine, decrees, Presidential decrees, International agreements and laws of the USSR. Some of these regulations and legislation need to be revised and amended in order to bring them in line with contemporary practices and modern standards. It is claimed that since 2017, Ukraine’s government has been implementing the pension reform aimed at relieving the pressure on the working-age population and improving living standards for retired people. In particular, the retirement age has been raised, eligibility criteria for preferential pensions have been revised, and methods for calculating pensions have been changed. The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine argues that the new pension reform is expected to enhance social, labour and post-retirement relations, to increase tax revenues through reporting real salaries, to develop a framework of social justice when calculating pensions. The author points out that the regulatory and legislative framework for calculating pensions is outdated at this stage and it requires changes. The considered changes are as follows: the establishment of a working group for entitlement of preferential pensions; the introduction of wage differentials by industries and occupations; the increase of pensions in line with inflation and age; the implementation of notional defined contribution pension system; the introduction of the new Labour Code and Pension Code, which are expected to regulate labour and post-retirement relations and meet modern standards. It is also indicated that continued employment should be enforced by legislation and a system of granting advantages and social security benefits to those who retire later needs to be developed. In terms of legislation, sufficient regard should be given to non-state pension schemes, defined contribution pension systems, and the principle of fairness when it comes to pension entitlements. It is also crucial to adjust pension amounts and retirement age to align with the sustainability ratio and the average life expectancy. Discussion. Further research of regulatory and legal framework for calculating pensions in Ukraine should be focused on the development of the Pension Code and improvement of the existing laws relative to pension calculation and payment. The author also suggests differentiating minimum wages by industries and regions and countering the illicit labour market and campaigning against payments ‘in envelope’, because official wages are the basis for calculating pensions.
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Ferris, James M. "Local Government Pensions and Their Funding: Policy Issues and Options." Review of Public Personnel Administration 7, no. 3 (July 1987): 29–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0734371x8700700304.
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Huang, Ting. "Local Policy Experimentation, Social Learning, and Development of Rural Pension Provision in China." Pacific Affairs 93, no. 2 (June 1, 2020): 353–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.5509/2020932353.
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The rural pension system, co-financed by rural residents' contributions and government subsidies, is a remarkable institutional innovation in China. To better understand the establishment and policy design of this system, this article studies the local experimentation of (partly) government-funded new rural pension schemes prior to the national policy guideline issued in 2009. The focus is on the role of social learning as a crucial driving force in this process. Through a process tracing based on in-depth interviews in Daxing of Beijing and Baoji of Shaanxi Province, this article illustrates how local governments struggled to find suitable financing models for rural pensions, and relied primarily on hands-on experimentation and experiences. During the mobilization of participation in the schemes, the repeated and constant interactions between local officials and rural residents promoted a form of mutual learning that contributed to local policy adaptation and rural residents' internalization of the value and basic rules of contributory pension provision. The local experience had a cumulative impact on the ideational reorientation of the central officials regarding the state's financial role in provision. Specifically, the financing model in Baoji created new options that facilitated the reconciliation of a set of different concerns and objectives at the centre, notably fiscal affordability, wide coverage, and modest managerial burden, which, this article argues, was the major reason for the incorporation of this model into the national policy. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the establishment of the rural pension system and its provisions on rural state-society relations in China.
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Jensen, Svend E. Hougaard, Torben Möger Pedersen, and Tove Birgitte Foxman. "Experiences with Occupational Pensions in Denmark." Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung 88, no. 1 (January 1, 2019): 11–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.3790/vjh.88.1.11.
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Summary: This paper focuses on the development of the funded, occupational pension (OP) system in Denmark. Launched in 1987, as a grand agreement between social partners backed by the government, and as part of the collective wage bargaining process, the Danish OP system differs from the set-up in most other countries, where OP schemes typically have been introduced as part of the legislative process. The OP schemes, being a major component of the overall Danish pension system, have attracted a lot of international attention in recent years and play a key role behind the system’s success with respect to achieving satisfactory coverage, providing high replacement rates and not least, for keeping fiscal policy on a sustainable path. Finally, the paper discusses a number of future challenges, mainly related to the interaction between private and public pensions in a welfare state.
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HUTTON, SANDRA. "Incomes in retirement in the UK: changes in the debate since 1996 and prospects for the future." Ageing and Society 18, no. 5 (September 1998): 611–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x98007065.
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My previous report on incomes in retirement (Hutton 1996) was written in June 1996. Almost a year later, the UK election in May 1997 led to a change in government and, in the following November, to a review of pension provision. The results of this review will be announced in a Green Paper due in the Autumn 1998. Prior to the election the political parties made statements and election pledges on pensions, so that it has been a time of some clarity of position but also, until the results of the review are published, of considerable uncertainty. The areas for debate, however, have been well set out.Two years ago I concluded:It will be interesting…to see what progress or otherwise has occurred in ensuring an adequate income in retirement, more equal provision for men and women, in the movement towards funded pensions, in the role of the state pension, and in the progress of the minimum pension guarantee. (Hutton 1996: 785)In this report I will first discuss where the debate on these issues has gone. Policy developments will then be set out, and finally I will identify questions to be asked in evaluating the pensions' review when it is published.
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Powell, Jason L., and Paul Taylor. "Rethinking Risk and Ageing: Extending Working Lives." Social Policy and Society 15, no. 4 (July 4, 2016): 637–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1474746416000270.
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This paper critically examines the development of recent policy and theoretical issues concerning the ‘extension of working lives’ for older people in the United Kingdom. It grounds its analysis in ideas from the ‘risk society’ thesis (Beck, 1992) to explore how the matrix of population ageing, job and pension changes impinge on the shifting emphasis on increasing the retirement age, coupled with individualising pensions from state provision to a focus on self-responsibility via private provision. This neo-liberal re-positioning of extending work and pension policy has implications for the management of risk for older people in the UK. The paper explores the impact of population ageing on government ideas associated with social policy relating to extending working lives. It concludes with an assessment on the lessons policy makers and social policy analysts can learn from such shifts and the impact on the social construction of age.
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Rowlingson, Karen. "Research Round-Up." Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice 10, no. 3 (October 2002): 215–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.51952/mvhz4471.
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The research presented in this issue produces a mixed picture in terms of government performance in key social security areas. Cathie Hammond’s research on the administration of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is critical of policy in this field and provides various recommendations for improvements. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s review of unemployment rates found, reassuringly, that all areas in England had benefited from economic growth, but that some areas had benefited much more than others, leading to greater polarisation overall. The next piece of research covered here, one of four pieces commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, argues that the Capability Report should be retained but that various aspects of it need revision. The next piece, a survey of employers’ pension provision, also shows mixed results – with only 29% of organisations providing some kind of pension for their employees but 72% of employees covered by these pensions (because larger organisations are much more likely to have such provision). In another study, clients’ experiences of ONE are mixed, depending on the type of client they are and the way the service is delivered. The last piece ends on a positive note in terms of government policy performance. Research from the Policy Studies Institute (PSI) and National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) demonstrates the effectiveness of the New Deal for Young People in finding jobs for its target group without detrimentally affecting the employment chances of older people.
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Volkova, T. G. "ORGANIZATION OF THE EMISSION OF THE BONDED LOAN OF THE PENSION FUND OF RUSSIA AS A WAY OF FINANCING ITS BUDGET DEFICIT." Bulletin of Udmurt University. Series Economics and Law 29, no. 5 (September 25, 2019): 564–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.35634/2412-9593-2019-29-5-564-573.
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In recent years, revenues and expenditures of the PFR budget are constantly growing, and their growth is about the same magnitude. The decrease in revenues in 2014 was due to a decrease in allocations from the Federal budget, as well as a change in the legislation on compulsory pension insurance, in accordance with which it was decided to send all insurance contributions at the individual rate to finance the insurance part of the labor pension. Since 2014, there has been a stable deficit. According to forecast data, the budget for the next years is also planned to be deficit. Taking into account that the state pension provision is planned and financed by the target method at the expense of allocations, it can be stated that the deficit of the PFR budget is associated with a shortage of incoming insurance contributions for the payment of insurance pensions. This may be due to the following reasons: a significant increase in the number of old-age pensioners with a relatively stable working-age population; insufficient income in the form of insurance contributions (informal wages, shadow business); lack of alternative sources of funding. With the first problem, the Russian Government decided to fight by an unpopular method - to reduce the increase in the number of pensioners by increasing the retirement age. This, in our view, exacerbates the existing problem of public distrust in the pension system in general and in the pension policy in particular. That in turn, among other factors, is the cause of the second problem - the growth of "gray" wages and unpaid insurance premiums. Thus, these problems need to be solved radically, which requires considerable time and a serious elaborated pension policy of the Government of the Russian Federation. It is proposed to use the issue of a pension bond loan as a measure in the operational management of the pension cash gap and strategic management of the budget deficit of the PFR.
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Datz, Giselle. "The Inextricable Link between Sovereign Debt and Pensions in Argentina, 1993–2010." Latin American Politics and Society 54, no. 1 (2012): 101–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2012.00144.x.
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AbstractEstablished with the reform of 1993, Argentina’s private pension funds became crucial sources of credit for the national government. They purchased large amounts of sovereign bonds defaulted on in 2001 and hence were key to the success of the debt restructuring of 2005. The private pillar was always vulnerable to political maneuvering; the nationalization of private pension funds in 2008 was only the last stage in an iterated process of state intervention, a function of public debt dynamics. This article argues that the financial pressures associated with Argentina’s sovereign debt burden systematically shortened the temporality of pension policy decisions, taking those away from long-term concerns about the stability of the social security system and toward the immediacy of debt-financing imperatives. Therefore, the politics of pension reform reversal in Argentina were determined by the increasingly strong and inextricable link between debt and pensions.
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Dimitrov, Stanislav. "Development of the taxation of retirement products in Bulgaria." VUZF Review 6, no. 4 (December 27, 2021): 22–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.38188/2534-9228.21.4.03.
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Retirement products are long-term savings products. It is widespread government to encourage the saving via tax incentives. Bulgaria follows favourable taxation of saving in voluntary pension funds. The paper is searching answer whether the applied tax policy of personal retirement products in Bulgaria is efficient. The research is focused on three main areas: the nature of the tax incentives in the country; the development of the taxation of pensions across European Union and the areas for improvements of the tax policy taking into account the characteristics of the Bulgarian socio-economic environment. The efficiency of the tax advantages often is under doubt in the literature. These studies omit the fact that without tax reliefs the coverage and the efficiency of saving in personal pension plans will be low. One of the conclusions of the current research is that the tax incentives for personal retirement products have to be a part of the design of the plans and these reliefs need to be adapted to the changing economic environment. The paper reaches the conclusion that evolution of the taxation of pensions in the country is needed. The positive changes will increase the trust in the personal retirement products and will improve the adequacy and sustainability of the overall pension system in Bulgaria. This evolution can be done through set of measures that will encourage people to save and will be factor for improving the results from the saving in personal pension plans.
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Maloney, Maureen, and Alma McCarthy. "Automatic enrolment to pension plans in small organisations: a research agenda." Employee Relations 41, no. 1 (January 7, 2019): 142–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/er-06-2017-0138.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse how firm size impacts pension workforce coverage with a particular focus on automatic enrolment (AE) to pension plans in small organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the alignment of government AE interests with those of small employers, their employees and pension providers to better understand how firm size impacts pension workforce coverage.FindingsThe alignment of interests between stakeholders (government, pension providers, employers and employees) differs between large and small organisations, and empirical findings from large organisations cannot be assumed to apply in small organisations.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper calls attention to the need for future empirical research and identifies a number of research questions for further analysis to examine how AE impacts pension participation in small organisations and advance the field.Originality/valueThe policy of automatically enroling employees into occupational pension plans, recently legislated for all eligible workers in the UK and under consideration in the USA and Ireland, was developed from research conducted in a small number of large organisations. Pension coverage is particularly inadequate for the large number of employees working in small organisations (1–49 employees). However, little research attention has been focussed on pensions in small organisations with pension policy makers assuming that legislated AE will work as effectively in small organisations as it did in large organisations. This paper addresses this gap in the field.
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Castiglioni, Rossana. "The Politics of Retrenchment: The Quandaries of Social Protection under Military Rule in Chile, 1973–1990." Latin American Politics and Society 43, no. 4 (2001): 37–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2001.tb00187.x.
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AbstractChile's military government replaced the country's universalistic social policy system with a set of market-oriented social policies. Taking evidence from three areas (pensions, education, and health care), this study seeks to explain why the military advanced a policy of deep retrenchment and why reform of health care was less thorough than it was in pensions and education. The radical transformation of policy relates to the breadth of power concentration enjoyed by General Pinochet and his economic team, the policymakers' ideological positions, and the role of veto players. The more limited reform of health care is linked to the actions of a powerful veto player, the professional association of physicians.
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OLIVERA, JAVIER, and VALENTINA PONOMARENKO. "Pension Insecurity and Wellbeing in Europe." Journal of Social Policy 46, no. 3 (November 17, 2016): 517–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047279416000787.
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AbstractThis paper studies pension insecurity in a sample of non-retired individuals aged 50 years or older from 18 European countries. We capture pension insecurity with the subjective expectations on the probability that the government will reduce the pensions of the individual before retirement or will increase the statutory retirement age. We argue that changes in economic conditions and policy affect the formation of such probabilities, and through this, subjective wellbeing. In particular, we study the effects of pension insecurity on subjective wellbeing with pooled linear models, regressions per quintiles and instrumental variables. We find a statistically significant, stable and negative association between pension insecurity and subjective wellbeing. Our findings reveal that the individuals who are more affected by pension insecurity are those who are further away from their retirement, have lower income, assess their life survival as low, have higher cognitive abilities and do not expect private pension payments.
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Goodkind, Daniel. "Reforming the Old-Age Security System in Vietnam." Asian Journal of Social Science 27, no. 2 (1999): 139–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/030382499x00093.
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AbstractOur paper examines changing systems of state support to the elderly in Vietnam, based primarily on two recent surveys in northern and southern subregions. We focus on the pension system, the most generous source of such support. Prior to 1995, pensions were primarily available to workers in the state sector. The funding system was ostensibly pay-as-you-go, yet heavily reliant on government subsidies. Our surveys reveal distinct regional patterns in the prevalence and size of pensions (as well as age at retirement), patterns we relate to Vietnam's partition and reunification. We then describe recent policy changes enacted as part of Vietnam's transition to a more market-oriented economy. A new Social Security Administration is attempting to extend old age security to employees of non-state enterprises based on enhanced employer contributions and new payroll deductions. We identify ideological, financial and demographic rationales for these reforms as well a variety of challenges to the new system.
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Silver, Michelle. "THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RETIREMENT AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RETIREMENT TIMING." Innovation in Aging 3, Supplement_1 (November 2019): S383. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.1405.
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Abstract Retirement is an ever-evolving, dynamic, and complex social construct we associate with the end of one’s career. For some the term is a bad word and a term that needs to be retired, while others can’t wait to retire and enjoy the good life. This paper examines a brief history of retirement and theoretical work from feminist gerontology, while focusing on gender differences in the social construction of retirement and policy implications of 10 different government pension plans. In doing so, it looks at policy implications associated with the standard retirement age tied to public pension plans in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Findings indicate that women live longer than men in each country, yet women retire earlier and receive lower pensions than men. As the landscape surrounding women’s work experiences changes and concerns about gender equity in salaries and workplace compensation continue to be raised, this paper extends the concerns to raise important questions about inequities in retirement.
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Podolskiy, Vadim A. "Social policy in Germany." Proceedings of the Southwest State University. Series: History and Law 11, no. 6 (2021): 145–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.21869/2223-1501-2021-11-6-145-155.
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Relevance. German social policy solutions became an example for imitation for other countries, including Russia, and are usually considered to be a standard due to their coverage and efficiency. Studying the German experience is valuable for development of the political science and for reforming the social policy systems. Purpose – to describe the origins and implementation of the social state in Germany. Objectives: to present the development and functioning of the pension and medical insurance systems, unem-ployment insurance and measures of the public social support. Methodology: comparative and historical approach, analysis of legal documents and institutions. Results. The foundations of the social assistance in Germany were created in the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX century, with introduction of programs of insurance funding for medical expenses and old-age and disability pensions, followed by unemployment insurance. The system operates for more than a century and effectively accomplishes the task of risk pooling, and it mainly relies on self-government. In the second half of the XX century the law that regulated the social assistance in Germany was extended significantly, the burden on the budget increased, as well as size of the insurance contributions. Citizens obtained the right for family benefits, the role of the housing benefits, unemployment and low-income support was increased. In the end of the XX century Germany introduced insurance to fund the long-term care. Conclusion. A developed system of social support exists in Germany, it relies on centuries-old traditions of local and corporative mutual help, with coordination and subsidies coming from the federal centre. The most powerful elements of the German social policy, which secure its’ efficiency, are historically established self-government and soli-darity
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MANN, KIRK. "Three Steps to Heaven? Tensions in the Management of Welfare: Retirement Pensions and Active Consumers." Journal of Social Policy 35, no. 1 (December 22, 2005): 77–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s004727940500930x.
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This article explores some of the emerging tensions in the management of welfare in Britain. The success of Labour's proposals for welfare reform, particularly retirement pensions, hinges on their ability to promote the idea of the consumer citizen and to undermine traditional ideas of citizenship rights. However, managing this transition – including the presentation of ideas and the management of consumers – has not been straightforward. While the Government presents retirement as a matter of lifestyle choice, welfare ‘consumers’ are demanding more of their providers and are regularly disgruntled with the response.Simultaneously, pension providers are expressing reservations about their ability to manage aggrieved consumers. Furthermore, they believe pension fund management has been politicised, and their scope for discretion reduced by regulation, while technical and scientific developments in terms of portfolio management and risk assessment have changed the working practices of those in the pension industry. These tensions between consumers, providers and legislators may generate further dissatisfaction with the balance of rights and responsibilities being hotly contested.
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Lambert, Frederic, and Hyunmin Park. "Income Inequality and Government Transfers in Mexico." IMF Working Papers 19, no. 148 (July 11, 2019): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.5089/9781498320863.001.
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We analyze microdata from Mexico's survey on household income and expenditures (ENIGH) to study the evolution of income inequality in Mexico over 2004-16, identify its sources, and investigate how it was affected by government social policy. We find evidence of only a small decline in inequality over this period. The observed decline may be attributed to government transfers, notably targeted cash transfers (Prospera) and non-contributory pensions. In 2016, those two programs accounted for more than two thirds of the reduction in the Gini coefficient due to government transfers. Other transfer programs such as farmland subsidies (Proagro), government scholarships, and non-monetary transfers for medical expenditures have not been as effective.
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Dundure, Evija, and Biruta Sloka. "Financial Literacy Self-Evaluation of Young People in Latvia." European Integration Studies 1, no. 15 (September 16, 2021): 160–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.1.15.28902.
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Regular and proportionate voluntary savings in private pension funds can become an important part of oldage pensions. However, this can happen if the savings are made for a long period of time. This justifies the target group of the 3rd pension level, which are young people who have started to receive a regular income from their professional activity. One of the most discussed issues in promoting voluntary pension savings is the level of financial literacy. In addition to other motivating factors, such as financial incentives, the level of knowledge of the population about the opportunities to participate in the third pillar of pensions makes them want to build up voluntary savings. Effective communication of information to a precise target audience is one of the main tasks of government agencies in formulating pension policy. In order to assess the impact of various socio-economic factors on young people's knowledge of savings for pension formation, a survey of Latvian youth was conducted in February-March 2021, addressing youth organizations and universities. The survey is designed using closed and semi-closed questions, in several questions respondents were asked to provide ratings using the Likert scale. The survey provides answers to the question about the level of knowledge of Latvian youth about the current pension system, emphasizing the investor's right to handle investments in private pension funds, as well as the basic conditions for creating savings at the 2nd and 3rd pension levels. The task of the study was to analyze the respondents' financial literacy self-evaluation answers based on the main socio-economic factors - gender, age and income. The results of the study confirm that the level of financial literacy of young people differs according to age, gender and income level.
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Owino, Oscar Otieno, and Ben Namande. "Records Management Practices and Service Delivery at the Pensions Department, Kenya." International Journal of Current Aspects 6, no. 1 (March 19, 2022): 24–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.35942/ijcab.v6i1.240.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of records management practices on service delivery at the Pensions Department in Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: To assess records management policies on service delivery at the Pension’s department in Kenya, to establish the effect of staff capacity on service delivery at the Pension’s Department, to determine the application of ICT in records management on service delivery at the Pension’s Department and to find out the effect of records management practices on service delivery at the Pension Department. The study was guided by the design and implementation of records keeping systems (DIRKS) theory. Mixed method descriptive survey research design was used. The target population was 112 employees where a sample of 88 was derived. A stratified sampling technique guided sample selection. Questionnaire, participant observation and personal interviews supported data collection. Pilot study was undertaken to determine research feasibility and to make improvements to the research instrument. Validity and reliability was achieved using content validity, expert opinion and Cronbach’s alpha. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. Presentation of findings was through the application of pie charts, frequency tables and graphs. Ethical considerations in the entire research process was observed. The study found a strong reliability above 0.70 with a response rate of 75%. The study established that respondents agreed that records management policy affected service delivery. It was also found that staff capacity affects service delivery. ICT application in records management was also found to affect service delivery. Finally, the study established that records management practices affect service delivery at the Pension Department. All the four independent variables were found to have positive and strong relationship with service delivery. However, all the independent variables did not have significant effect on service delivery. The study concluded that records management practices affect service delivery at the Pension Department. The study also concluded that there were some written policies that staff were not aware of, security of records was not adequate, there were skill gaps among staff and there were cases of lost files. The study recommended the need to develop clear policies and sensitize the staff for more awareness. It also recommended more resource allocation not only for equipment purchase, but for staff training, acquisition of modern and bigger servers for more electronic records storage and implementation of modern finding aids for easy location and retrieval of records. The study recommended future research in other government agencies, use of different variables and outside Nairobi County.
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Rowlingson, Karen. "Research Round-Up." Benefits: A Journal of Poverty and Social Justice 11, no. 2 (June 2003): 113–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.51952/grrd9140.
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Policy research is often concerned with quite ‘immediate’ problems such as whether a particular policy is working well or not. Such research often incorporates the definitions used by policy makers but Deborah Mabbett’s research is of a more fundamental nature. She takes a critical look at how disability categories are established in different European countries. The second piece also concerns a very broad issue – the effect of devolution on social security policy. It concentrates on Housing Benefit to discuss the tensions arising from the current division of responsibilities in relation to housing policy. The government set a deadline of 2004 to reduce the number of children in low-paid households by a quarter compared with 1998/99. This date is fast approaching and research highlighted here by the New Policy Institute suggests that the government still has a long way to go to achieve this. Having said that, the trend is in the right direction with some recent progress on reducing income poverty. Is self-employment a good way to escape poverty? Research, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, reviews the evidence on self-employment as a route off benefits and concludes that we must be cautious with our conclusions as there is a lack of evidence on this subject. There is some evidence, however, to suggest that self-employment is a very precarious activity for many people. And finally, another study funded by the Department for Work and Pensions measured public attitudes to e-government. The findings suggest that the majority of people still rely on traditional methods for getting in touch with government but that there is some interest in using the Internet in the future.
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SEEKINGS, JEREMY. "BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY, LOCAL POLITICS, AND THE ORIGINS OF THE MAURITIAN WELFARE STATE, 1936–50." Journal of African History 52, no. 2 (July 2011): 157–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021853711000247.
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ABSTRACTMauritius's unusual welfare state dates back to the introduction of non-contributory old-age pensions in 1950. This article examines the origins of this reform, focusing on the interactions between political actors in both Mauritius (local planters, political activists, and the colonial government) and London (the Colonial Office and Labour Party). Faced with riots among unorganised sugar estate workers in 1937, the colonial administration considered welfare reforms as part of a package intended to substitute for political change. The nascent Mauritian Labour Party used its links to the British Labour Party to apply additional pressure on the Colonial Office and, hence, the Governor in Mauritius. Welfare reform was stalled, however, by resistance from, initially, the governor and, later, the Colonial Office. It took partial democratisation in 1948 to push the local administration towards reluctant reform. The choice of tax-financed old-age pensions reflected the combination of a small and open economy, the absence of surplus land, poorly organised workers, and an effective state.
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Miti, Jairous Joseph, Mikko Perkio, Anna Metteri, and Salla Atkins. "Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review." International Journal of Social Economics 48, no. 1 (December 1, 2020): 17–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijse-03-2020-0165.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish the main factors influencing willingness to pay for health insurance and pension schemes among informal workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Historically, informal economy workers have been excluded from social protection coverage. There is a growing need, interest and policy discourse in LMICs to extend social security to informal economy workers. However, little is known about informal workers' willingness to pay (WTP) for social security services in different LMIC settings.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a systematic review and searched five databases from 1987 to 2017. Included papers focused on “social security”, “social insurance”, “pension”, “informal economy”, “informal sector” and “informal workers” in LMICs. Authors conducted independent data appraisal and data extraction. A total of 1790 papers were identified. After exclusion, 34 papers were included in the analysis. Given the heterogeneous results, the authors performed a narrative synthesis to consolidate the findings of the different studies.FindingsIn total, 34 studies from 17 countries were included in the review, out of which 23 studies focused on health insurance, 7 studies on pension schemes and 4 studies on social security in general. The study showed that income and trust were associated with WTP for both health insurance and pension schemes. In addition, family size, age, education and residential area were common factors for both forms of social security. For health insurance, experience of sickness, attitude and presence of medical doctors as well as distance from the healthcare facility all played a role in determining WTP. For pension schemes, low and flexible contribution rates, benefit package, government subsidies and quality of administration of the schemes influenced enrolment and contributions.Research limitations/implicationsMore evidence is needed for WTP for pensions among informal workers.Practical implicationsThe findings show that socio-economic differences, scheme-type (health or pension) and level of trust influence WTP for health insurance or pension among informal sector workers. The review results suggest that the factors influencing WTP for health insurance and pensions interplay in a complex web of relations. More evidence is needed on WTP for pensions among informal workers.Social implicationsFurther studies are particularly needed on the interrelationship of the influences to WTP, including gender issues, access barriers and socioeconomic factors, among program design issues for social security.Originality/valueThis paper is based on a systematic review methodology and contributes to the discourse on extending social security to informal economy workers based on evidence from various countries.
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Walker, Robert, Geoffrey Hardman, and Sandra Hutton. "The Occupational Pension Trap: Towards a Preliminary Empirical Specification." Journal of Social Policy 18, no. 4 (October 1989): 575–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047279400001860.
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ABSTRACTLegislation in 1985 and 1986 has attempted to give new impetus to the growth of occupational and personal pension schemes. This article demonstrates that, because of the interaction between occupational pensions and means-tested social security provision, many of today's pensioners receive little or no financial benefit from their occupational pension. The evidence presented is consistent with the thesis that the pensioners who are worst affected by the ‘pension trap’ include those who, as workers, were low-paid and experienced interrupted employment. As a consequence they reached retirement with small state and occupational pensions, limited savings and no house which they owned. Many are women. The penetration of occupational and personal pensions is currently lowest among the same groups of workers and it could be that the Government's policy to extend the coverage of private pensions will result in an increase in the severity of the pension trap. Some measures for reducing the impact of the pension trap are discussed.
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Yang, Nan, and Stefan Kühner. "Beyond the Limits of the Productivist Regime: Capturing Three Decades of East Asian Welfare Development with Fuzzy Sets." Social Policy and Society 19, no. 4 (January 20, 2020): 613–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s147474641900054x.
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Systematic accounts of East Asian government responses to the ‘limits of productivist regimes’ (Gough, 2004) remain surprisingly rare. This article develops three distinct types of East Asian welfare development, i.e. quantitative, type-specific, and radical, employing set-theoretic methods. It then uses these types to analyse six policy fields, including education, health care, family policy, old-age pensions, public housing, and passive labour market policy, in six East Asian societies: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. We find that all cases except Hong Kong and Singapore have experienced at least one radical shift in their welfare models over the past three decades (1990–2016). East Asian governments have increasingly combined quantitative expansion or retrenchment of ‘productive’ and ‘protective’ policy structures but have done so in unique ways. South Korea has followed the most ‘balanced’ approach to welfare development and stands out as the best candidate for further type-specific expansions moving forward.
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Iliffe, Steve, and Vari Drennan. "Assessment of older people in the community: from ‘75-and-over checks’ to National Service Frameworks." Reviews in Clinical Gerontology 14, no. 4 (November 2004): 257–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959259805001577.
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Population aging, escalating costs in pensions, health care and long-term care have prompted the emergence of a new policy agenda for active aging and quality of life in old age across the European Union. In the UK, the government has made a commitment to improve services for older people through combating age discrimination, engaging with older people, better decision-making for services for older people, better meeting of older people's needs and promoting a strategic and ‘joined-up’ approach. A raft of policy initiatives not only sets the tone for service reconfiguration but also specifies objectives and time scales.
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Simonovits, András. "The Boomerang of Female40: Seniority Pensions in Hungary, 2011–2018." European Journal of Social Security 21, no. 3 (August 22, 2019): 262–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1388262719869527.
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In 2011, the Hungarian government introduced special seniority pensions (Female40): Females, who have accumulated at least 40 years of eligibility (related to the length of contributions), can retire at any age without actuarial benefit reduction. The elimination of other early retirement schemes in 2012 and slowly rising real wages made the policy change even more popular: the lifetime benefit was maximised at the earliest age of retirement. Since 2016, real wages have been growing rather fast; making delayed retirement attractive. Without being noticed by the public at large, Female40 has become a boomerang for its former beneficiaries as immediate retirement from 2014 causes losses rather than gains to the foregoing retirees.
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Leskova, Irina V., Natalya V. Mazurina, Ekaterina A. Troshina, Dmitry N. Ermakov, Elena A. Didenko, and Lubov V. Adamskaya. "Social and medical aspects of elderly age: obesity and professional longevity." Obesity and metabolism 14, no. 4 (December 27, 2017): 10–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.14341/omet2017410-15.
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The article raises the problem of the population aging and the expected significant increase in the proportion of the elderly population in Russian in the next 1015 years. Population aging will cause the need to attract additional financial resources for pensions to 1214% of GDP, which is approximately 1.5 1.6 times more than is provided for by the program of the Government of Russia aimed at improving the pension System in the period until 2025. The existing pension system and social security system only partially takes into account the aging process. Mechanisms for adapting the elderly to work have not yet been created, a well-thought-out state policy in this area has yet to be developed. In addition, the aging of the population leads to an increase in the older age groups of the risks of diseases with severe and catastrophic consequences, to prevent and reduce which is the number one task before the social policy of the state for this population group. The costs of medical care and care help are exorbitant in scope for the vast majority of retirees, so the elderly remain virtually defenseless against the risks of old age. It is emphasized that before medicine the task is not simply to increase life expectancy, but to prolong the labor activity of a citizen. The article suggests measures to improve the policy of interaction between state institutions and civil society in overcoming the negative consequences of aging and social adaptation of older persons.
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AU-YEUNG, TAT CHOR, and KA KI CHAN. "Crafting the Financial-Subject: A Qualitative Study of Young Workers’ Experiences in Financialised Pension Investment in Hong Kong." Journal of Social Policy 49, no. 2 (April 30, 2019): 323–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047279419000345.
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AbstractThis article applies the concepts of the financial-subject and micro-foundation of financialisation to young workers’ experiences with Hong Kong’s financialised pension regime. The results of our qualitative analysis show that many respondents doubt and belittle their financial investment for retirement. In response to the compulsory investment required by the government and the fact that their aspirations for security in later life seemed unfulfilled, some young workers undertook ‘uninformed’ investment and ‘age-led’ risk taking. The findings also show that employment precarity translates into investment precarity owing to workers’ unstable incomes and contributions; labour inequalities are reflected in financial inequalities. Arguably, the neoliberal crafting of the young financial-subject, including constructions of financial irresponsibility, irrationality, and illiteracy, is fraught with tensions, turning workers into investors and using finance to satisfy socio-economic needs. It contributes to social policy studies by connecting selfhood and institutions, and calls for questions about the future of financialised pensions.
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van Gent, Wouter, Cody Hochstenbach, and Justus Uitermark. "Exclusion as urban policy: The Dutch ‘Act on Extraordinary Measures for Urban Problems’." Urban Studies 55, no. 11 (July 27, 2017): 2337–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0042098017717214.
Full textAbstract:
The Dutch government introduced the Act on Extraordinary Measures for Urban Problems in 2006 to bolster local regeneration efforts. The act enables local governments to stop specific groups of deprived households from moving into designated neighbourhoods. More specifically, the Act allows local governments to refuse a residence permit to persons who have lived in the metropolitan region for less than six years and who do not receive an income from work, pensions or student loans. The policy is based on the idea that reducing the influx of poor newcomers improves liveability by providing a temporary relief of the demand for public services and by making neighbourhoods demographically ‘balanced’ or ‘socially mixed’. This review examines the socio-spatial effects of the Act in Rotterdam between 2006 and 2013. While the Act produces socio-demographic changes, the state of the living environment in designated areas seems to be worsening rather than improving. Our findings show that the policy restricts the rights of excluded groups without demonstrably improving safety or liveability. The review concludes with a reflection on how the Act may signify a broader change in European statecraft and urban policy.