This book highlights the importance of retirement security as a major policy concern of our time. A generation of "Baby Boomers" is on the verge of retirement, yet pension systems confront crushing challenges, and policymakers seek direction. The authors set their sights on employees' needs and expectations, employers' intentions and realizations, and policymakers' efforts to resolve the many challenges. Despite the fact that retirement systems face deep stresses exacerbated by volatile capital markets, poor corporate earning streams, weak macroeconomic performance, and international turmoil,...

This book, the first in a new series produced by the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School in collaboration with Oxford University Press, explores ways to enhance retirement security in a volatile financial environment. The book begins by assessing the myriad retirement risks confronting employees, retirees, employers and governments. This book illustrates how stakeholders can reinvent pensions that perform will in a competitive global setting. Contributors then indicate how pension systems can be better designed to help protect against these risks. Of special interest is a...

Employees are being given more and more decisions to make with regards to their pension and healthcare plans. Yet increasing research in the social sciences shows that the decisions 'real' people make are not those of the thoughtful and well-informed economic agent often portrayed in economic research, but are often based on flawed information and made without a full understanding of their financial implications.
The contributors to Pension Design and Structure explore the assumptions behind commonly-held theories of retirement decision-making, and the consequences of the growing volume...

This book explores how rising pension and healthcare costs along with workforce aging are affecting pension and retirement planning around the world. Many middle-aged workers now realize that they will have to work longer than intended as they begin to recognize that their retirement resources will be inadequate to finance retirement consumption. Volatile capital markets, rising medical-care costs and low saving rates make retirement behavior and policy a moving target. Olivia Mitchell, Executive Director of the Pension Research Council at Wharton and Robert L. Clark, Professor of Business...

"This latest installment in the Pension Research Council series brings together a wealth of information for those concerned with public policy options. . . .The book is substantive. . . . It provides data, estimates, models, and a framework to help readers think about the underlying problems in the system."--Industrial and Labor Relations Review The United States social security system is the nation's largest social insurance program. As such, it has a far-reaching impact throughout the economy, influencing not only old-age economic security but also many behaviors, including corporate...

Pensions in the Public Sector Edited by Olivia S. Mitchell and Edwin C. Hustead "An essential reference tool for actuaries and others involved in government retirement systems. It also will provide insight to the general public regarding the ways tax dollars are being spent in this important arena."--The Actuarial Digest Some 13 million public-sector workers in the United States--including teachers, police and firefighters, state and municipal employees, judges, and legislators--and another six million federal and military employees participate in government pension plans. These...

People covered by public pensions are often the subject of "pension envy": that is, their benefits might seem more generous and their contributions lower than those offered by the private sector. Yet this book points out that such judgments are often inaccurate, since civil servants hold jobs with few counterparts in private industry, such as firefighters, police, judges, and teachers. Often these are riskier, dirtier, and demand more loyalty and discretion than would be required of a more mobile labor force in the private sector. The debate challenges traditional ideas about how the public...

Interest in longevity and longevity risk management is burgeoning, as government and regulatory agencies are increasingly conscious of the potential risks and benefits of longer lifespans. Commercial and industrial organizations, especially within the financial sector, are awakening to the opportunities presented by population aging, along with the new array of financial insurance instruments to manage longevity risk, which more sophisticated markets are making possible. This volume explores three main themes: the need for products to manage longevity risk; the structure and safety of...

As financial markets grow ever more complex and integrated, households must make increasingly sophisticated and all-too-often irreversible economic decisions. This is particularly evident in retirement decision-making. Traditional defined benefit pension schemes are being replaced with defined contribution pensions; employer and government judgment regarding how much to save and where to invest has been replaced by employees having to make these choices on their own (sometimes assisted by advisers); and retirees have become responsible for managing their own pension assets.
This volume...

The worldwide financial crisis has wrought deep changes in capital and labor markets, old-age retirement systems, and household retirement and consumption patterns. Confidence has been shaken in both the traditional defined benefit and defined contribution plans.
Around the world, plan sponsors, fiduciaries, policymakers, and households have gained a new awareness of retirement risk. When pressed to reform post-crisis, many would recommend enhancing financial advice for plan participants, emphasizing flexibility and the positive effect of working another one or two years to make up for...