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Public Management

Autor: Banco Mundial
Año: 2000
Resumen: This Note on public management of pension funds concludes that publicly-managed pension reserves are often used to finance non-pension policy. Public pension fund managers tend to invest based on objectives unrelated to pension provision. These include social and economically target investments such as housing. Often governments look to pension reserves as a convenient and cheap way to finance deficits. One result is that public management produces poor returns relative to what could potentially be earned. Any pre-funding of long term pension obligations requires some minimal level of good governance. Although good governments perform better, public management produces inferior returns across all countries. As a result members of the scheme have to pay higher contributions or receive lower benefits. The evidence suggests that public management of pension reserves should generally be avoided.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Seguridad Social y Sistemas de Pensiones
Tipo de Publicación: Notas de Pensiones
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Collection: Transferring Contributions to Individual Pension Accounts

Autor: Banco Mundial
Año: 2000
Resumen: Collecting contributions is more complicated in a decentralized pension system, based on individual accounts, than in a public system. Many public plans provide a defined benefit pension based on only a few years' earnings, which limits the need for keeping records of people's earnings and contributions in every year of their working life. And there is usually a choice of pension fund manager with individual accounts. Collection, record-keeping and transferring contributions to individual accounts has often proved problematic. Some reforms have been delayed or abandoned because of collection problems. Using a series of case studies of Latin American and European countries, this briefing highlights policy choices in operating individual accounts systems.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Reformas de Pensiones
Tipo de Publicación: Informes
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Retirement : Can Pension Reform Reverse the Trend to Earlier Retirement?

Autor: Banco Mundial
Año: 2000
Resumen: This edition of the Pension Reform Primer examines the global trend in early retirement among rich and poorer countries, the reasons for people retiring early, the burden of early retirement on the pension system, recent policy initiatives to promote employment of older workers, and people's responses to incentives. The paper notes there is a clear relationship between early retirement and incentives in the pension system, a result confirmed by other international studies and by more detailed econometric analysis of individual countries' systems. It finds that retirement depends on many other factors, such as individual health or the level of unemployment. But financial incentives in the tax and pension system have important effects on the retirement deciosion.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Reformas de Pensiones
Tipo de Publicación: Documentos de Trabajo
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Portfolio Limits : Pension Investment Restrictions Compromise Fund Performance

Autor: Banco Mundial
Año: 2000
Resumen: The value of funded pensions can depend critically on the funds' investment performance. To try and protect people's savings, governments often regulate pension funds strictly, particularly when contributions are mandatory. For example, the new funded pension systems in Latin America and Eastern Europe are more stringently regulated than private pensions in OECD countries, which are mainly voluntary. While these pension fund regulations take three different forms, this briefing focuses on one of these: quantitative restrictions on pension funds' portfolios. Quantitative restrictions on the share of particular types of assets held by the fund limit the dispersion of outcomes, particularly for defined contribution schemes. In most mandatory schemes, this leads to a 'single portfolio' environment where members of the scheme are forced to hold basically the same portfolio. Most common are limits on risky assets such as shares and corporate bonds. Often, foreign investments are curtailed. This review includes a look at the adverse effects of portfolio limits, and argues for relaxing investment rules so that pension funds can reap the benefits from international diversification.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Fondos de Inversión
Tipo de Publicación: Documentos de Trabajo
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The Swiss Multi-Pillar Pension System: Triumph of Common Sense?

Autor: Queisser, Monika; Vittas, Dimitri.
Año: 2000
Resumen: The authors provide a detailed study of the Swiss pension system, analyzing its strengths and weaknesses. The unfunded public pillar is highly redistributive. It has near universal coverage, a low dispersion of benefits (the maximum public pension is twice the minimum), and no ceiling on contributions. Low-income pensioners receive means-tested supplementary benefits. Payroll taxes are low, but government transfers cover 27 percent of total benefits. Total benefits amount to 9.1 percent of GDP, equivalent to 15.2 percent of covered earnings. The funded private pillar was made compulsory in a defensive move against the relentless expansion of the public pillar. The compulsory pillar stipulates minimum benefits in the form of age-related credits, a minimum interest rate on accumulated credits, and a minimum annuity conversion factor, aimed to smooth changes in interest rates over time. Low-income workers are not required to participate in the second pillar. The first and second pillars as well as supplementary benefits are admirably integrated. Company pension plans are free to set terms and conditions in excess of these minimums, and most offer benefits exceeding obligatory levels. The second pillar has accumulated large financial resources, equivalent to 125 percent of GDP. Investment returns have historically been low, but a shift in asset allocation in favor of equities and international assets has increased reported returns in recent years. The third (voluntary) pillar covers self-employed workers and others not covered by the second pillar. It plays a rather small role in the system. Many of the positive features of the Swiss pension system are not due to some grand original design but are instead the result of periodic revisions. In large part they reflect the collective common sense of the Swiss people in voting for stable and fiscally prudent social benefits. However, the Swiss system also has some weaknesses. As in many other countries, the public pillar faces a deteriorating system dependency ratio, due to demographic aging and a large increase in disability pensions. The second pillar is fragmented (more than 4,000 funds with affiliates), lacks transparency, and has achieved low investment returns.

Fuente: Banco Mundial
Clasificación: Seguridad Social y Sistemas de Pensiones
Tipo de Publicación: Documentos de Trabajo
Idioma:

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