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Pension adequacy is gaining importance as old-age poverty remains a pressing problem. In many advanced welfare states, the population is ageing rapidly and recent pension reforms have led to cuts in public pension provision. There are, however, few comparative longitudinal studies on the relationship between pension generosity and old-age poverty. This study provides a comparative empirical assessment of how the prevalence and depth of old-age poverty relates to generosity of public pension benefits in 14 advanced OECD welfare states from 1980-2010. We focus on the role of mandatory public pension provision of mainly first tier schemes that grant the major share of retirees’ income in most countries. We use data on theoretical pension replacement rates for retirees who had different working-age incomes. In order to address endogeneity issues, we adopt an instrumental-variable approach. Our main finding shows that pensions systems and earnings-related schemes, in particular, are quite efficient in reducing the risk of old-age poverty. Yet they still do very little to alleviate poverty among those pensioners in the most disadvantaged situations. We also found that redistribution within the pension system does not substantially contribute to poverty alleviation.

While subjective well-being generally decreased in Europe during the Great Recession, some countries fared better than others. We assess how this experience varied across population subgroups and countries according to their labor market policies, specifically two types of unemployment support policies and employment protection legislation. We find both types of unemployment support, income replacement and active labor market policy (which assists the unemployed to find jobs), reduced the negative effects for most of the population (except youth); however, income replacement performed better, reducing the impacts of the Recession to a greater degree. In contrast, stricter employment protection legislation exacerbated the negative effects. This finding may be explained with suggestive evidence that indicates: legislation limiting the dismissal of employees curbed increases in unemployment but this benefit was more than offset, plausibly by perceptions of increased employment insecurity; and legislation limiting the use of temporary contracts may have exacerbated increases in unemployment. Our analysis is based on two-stage least squares regressions using individual subjective well-being data from Eurobarometer surveys and variation in labor market policy across 23 European countries.

Background: Cancer patients experience financial hardship due to rising expenses related to cancer treatment and declining income levels associated with reduced employability. Employment Insurance Sick Benefits (EI-SB) is a social income support program which provides temporary income replacement to Canadians when they fall ill. Although EI-SB is designed to maintain continuity of income during an illness, little is known about the perspectives of cancer patients who receive EI-SB. This knowledge can inform the development of public policies which are responsive to the needs and priorities of cancer patients. Methods: We conducted a theory-informed thematic analysis of data collected from twenty semi-structured interviews with participants who were receiving care in a cancer centre in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and had received EI-SB. A coding framework was developed using Taplin and colleagues’ intermediate outcomes of patient care across the cancer care continuum. Interpretation of findings was guided by the synergies of oppression theoretical lens. Results: Three overarching themes describe the experiences of cancer patients receiving social income support: Economic exclusion, in which the structure of the labour market and social welfare system determine access to workplace benefits and continuity of reasonable income; financial toxicity, a vicious cycle of financial burden and increasing financial distress; and constrained choices, where cancer influences employability and lowered income influences the need to be employed. Conclusion: Cancer patients need income support programs that are tailored to match their healthcare priorities. In addition, policies which strengthen working conditions and facilitate a reintegration to work when possible will be important in addressing the structural drivers of income insecurity experienced by cancer patients.

All countries in the former transition economies of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe have undertaken public pension reforms of varying depth and orientation, often with the support of the World Bank. Although the reformed public pension schemes provide broad benefit adequacy, in most cases additional measures are needed to achieve fiscal sustainability in an aging society. 'Adequacy of Retirement Income after Pension Reforms in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe: Eight Country Studies' assesses the benefit adequacy of the reformed pension systems for eight countries—Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia—to identify policy gaps and options. The authors identify the motivations for reform against the backdrop of the trend toward multi-pillar arrangements, document key provisions, and compare them in the context of the World Bank's five-pillar paradigm for pension reform. They then evaluate the sustainability and adequacy of reformed pension systems and provide recommendations to address gaps and take advantage of opportunities for further reforms. The case studies and summary suggest the following broad policy conclusions: • Fiscal sustainability has improved in most study countries, but few are fully prepared for the inevitability of population aging. • The linkage between contributions and benefits has been strengthened, and pension system designs are better suited to market conditions • Levels of income replacement are generally adequate for all but some categories of workers (including those with intermittent formal sector employment or low lifetime wages), and addressing their needs requires initiatives that go beyond pension policy. • Further reforms should focus on extending labor force participation by the elderly to avoid benefit cuts that could undermine adequacy and very high contribution rates that could discourage formal sector employment. • More decisive financial market reforms are needed for funded provisions to deliver on the expectations of participants and keep funded pensions safe. This book will be of interest to policy makers, researchers, and everyone interested in the topic of pensions in the region, and beyond.

We compare the long-term output and current account effects of pension reforms that increase the retirement age with those of reforms that cut pension benefits, conditional on reforms achieving similar fiscal targets. We show the presence of a policy trade-off. Pension reforms that increase the retirement age have a large positive effect on output, but a small (and often negative) effect on the current account. In contrast, reforms that cut pension benefits improve the current account balance but reduce output. Mixed pension reforms, which extend the working life and cut pension benefits, can simultaneously boost output and the current account.

Nous analysons un grand fichier de données longitudinales des déclarations de revenus pour les individus canadiens, en appliquant une procédure de détermination de la retraite, qui est basé sur le revenu d’emploi, afin de évaluer qui se sont retirés et comment ils réussissent à maintenir leurs revenus après la retraite. Cette approche méthodologique peut être d’interêt pour une application éventuelle dans d’autres pays qui ont des données appropriées. Nos principales conclusions sont les suivants. En premier, dans les deux ans qui suivent le départ en retraite, les ratios de remplacement du revenu après taxes atteignent en moyenne environ deux- tiers lorsqu’ils sont calculés sur tous les âges de départ en retraite. Deuxièmement, les ratios ont tendance à augmenter avec l’âge de la retraite. Troisièmement, les ratios augmentent avec les anneés de la retraite, du moins dans les premières années. Enfin, les ratios de remplacement du revenu sont les plus élevés pour le quartile des revenu les plus bas et diminuent généralement à mesure que le revenu augmente ; avec chaque quartile, les taux de remplacement augmentent davantage pour ceux qui ont pris leur retraite plus tard que pour ceux qui l’ont prise plus tôt. Applying an employment-income-based procedure for determining retirement, we analysed a large longitudinal data file of Canadian personal income tax returns for individuals to determine who has retired and to assess how successful they are in maintaining their incomes after retirement. The methodological approach may be of interest for possible application in other countries that have suitable data. Our main conclusions are as follows. First, in the two years immediately after retirement, the after-tax income replacement ratios average about two thirds when calculated across all ages of retirement. Second, the ratios tend to increase with the age of retirement. Third, the ratios increase with years in retirement, at least in the first few years. Finally, income replacement ratios are highest in the lowest income quartile and generally decline as income increases; within each quartile, the replacement ratios are higher for those who retired later than for those who retired earlier.

The article studies the parameters of the accumulative pension system, particularly, the rate of contribution into the accumulative system, contribution period of the system’s participants, the coefficient of replacement of the salary with pension after the retirement, the number of years of the future pension payments, alternatives of profitability of the funds accumulated by the system. The structure of the accumulative system is based on the methods and models of determining the parameters during the period of accumulation of resources after the retirement of the participant. The calculations are based on a variant basis. There are 6 interconnected parameters of the system’s determination. The author has carried out formalization of determining the system’s indicators and variant calculations. The most realistic for Ukraine is the introduction of accumulative system with the following parameters: contribution ‒ 14% of salary (or preferably of income); contribution period ‒ 35 years with the retirement of men at the age of 65 and women at the age of 60; the percentage of return on the savings ‒ 3%. That is, in this case, the accumulation system will provide a pension with the income-replacement ratio of 0.6 over 18.4 years. The model can be used at the state level (when determining the rate of contribution into the accumulation system, the contribution period and the income-replacement ratio with the fixation of other parameters) and by the system’s participants (when determining the number of years using the accumulated pension, the income-replacement ratio and monitoring one’s own resources).

The subject matter of the research is as follows: pension reforms conducted by some states define the transformation of pension systems. The choice of countries is stipulated by the fact that each of them has different types of pension systems and preconditions for reforms. The purpose is to develop an approach that allows comparing and evaluating changes in disparate systems. The hypothesis is that the ongoing pension reforms, regardless of initial conditions and their type lead to a similar trajectory of pension systems development in all countries. The methodology rests on the comparative analysis that was carried out on the basis of a single algorithm that allows to determine significant modifiable parameters and the overall direction of reform. The novelty is that the authors research the ongoing pension reform from the viewpoint of pension rights formation and distribution of risks. The results are a single trajectory of reforms implementation for the studied countries, which confirms the authors’ hypothesis. The specific features of the Russian pension system do not affect the reform trajectory, which is similar to all countries. The conclusions are the following: the reducing pressure on pension system requires increasing revenues and limiting the number of potential participants. This is achieved by expanding sources of financing, increasing the dependence of pension on an employee’s contributions, transferring the risks of old age into the individual level, and employment motivation during the retirement period. The principle of the intergenerational solidarity loses its value. The obtained results can be used for the pension reform modification in the Russian Federation, the development of voluntary pension insurance based on the experience of other countries and risks faced by the modern Russian pension system.

This research studies the interaction between longevity risk and asset allocation for a defined contribution pension plan. We investigate the investment strategy during the accumulation phase to deal with longevity risk during the decumulation phase. The longevity risk is demonstrated using the U. K. mortality experience for pensioners. We experiment with three patterns of mortality: base, projection and stochastic mortality rates. The optimal asset allocation and contribution rate are determined by minimizing the variance of the error between the value of pension fund and required pension fund plus the square of the expected value of the error. The required pension fund is decided by the pension fund target, measured using the income replacement ratio. We consider four assets in the asset allocation and observe four types of changes to the rebalancing investment strategies. The results show a life cycle investment strategy and indicate that longevity risk can be hedged by either raising the contribution rate or setting a more aggressive asset allocation.