Support for pension reforms: What is the role of financial literacy and pension knowledge?

Despite the relevance of the issue of pension system sustainability in most advanced economies, the factors associated with the opposition to pension reforms are still under-studied. In this paper, we investigate the correlation between financial, pension and institutional knowledge and support for pension reforms. Using an ad hoc module of the SHARE data for Italy, we find that financially literate and pension knowledgeable individuals are more willing to accept pension reforms. In particular, individuals with a basic level of pension knowledge recognize that population ageing, low economic growth, and low contributions by the young make the public pension system hardly sustainable.     

Public Pension Reform in the United Kingdom: What Effect on the Financial Well‐Being of Current and Future Pensioners?*

Unlike many tax and benefit changes, reforms to public pension programmes take many years to have their full effect. This paper examines the effect of reforms to the public pension programme in the United Kingdom on the state retirement incomes of current generations of pensioners and on the prospective state incomes of future generations of pensioners. We show that, for an individual with lifetime earnings close to male average earnings, the UK pension system is at its most generous to those reaching the state pension age around the year 2000, but that the introduction of the state second pension and the pension credit postpones this peak for individuals on lower incomes and for those with substantial periods out of paid employment spent with caring responsibilities. We also consider how the ‘mix’ of benefits, particularly between the contributory and income‐tested sectors, could change over time, and the impact that this would have on incentives to save for retirement.     

Defined Benefit or Defined Contribution? A Study of Pension Choices

We solve an empirically parameterized life‐cycle model of consumption and pension choices to show how expected earnings growth and risk affect the benefits of final‐salary defined benefit (DB) pension plans, relative to pension plans that are defined contribution (DC) in nature. We use micro data on the pension choices of individuals to provide evidence consistent with the model predictions: (1) individuals who expect a higher growth rate of earnings are more likely to choose DB final‐salary schemes, and (2) individuals who face a higher variance of persistent income shocks are less likely to choose DB final‐salary schemes. We control for cohort and age fixed effects in the empirical analysis.     

国内外完善养老保险制度研究的文献综述

随着我国老龄化进程的加快,养老问题的严峻性日益凸显,养老保险制度的进一步优化完善,成为近年来国内养老保险领域专家和学者关注的焦点.本文通过梳理国内外关于养老保险制度完善相关研究文献发现,相对于国外专家和学者围绕公共养老保险的央地责任分摊、多层次养老保险体系的构建与优化、推进养老保险基金的可持续性,以及养老保险效率提升等开展的探讨和研究,国内学者更多聚焦于养老保险制度本身的设计和重构、多层次养老保险体系的健全完善、税收激励推动养老保险结构化均衡发展,以及养老保险运行效率提升等视角,并由此提出完善我国养老保险制度的未来主要方向.     

The Information Content of Corporate Pension Funding Status in Japan

This paper tests if a firm's pension funding ratio (pension assets/PBO) reveals the management's private information about the firm's operation when the firm can exercise discretion in pension funding. The lax enforcement of pension funding rules and the prevalence of management forecasts make Japanese firms an ideal testing ground. We show that, among firms with large business uncertainty, large accruals, or high effective tax rates, the pension funding ratio predicts the firm's management forecast errors significantly beyond conventional control variable and the effects of pension accounting management. However, the stock market does not appear to incorporate this information immediately.     

Accounting information,disclosure, and expected utility: Do investors really abhor uncertainty?

Investors are said to “abhor uncertainty,” but if there were no uncertainty they could earn only the risk‐free rate. A fundamental result in the analytical accounting literature shows that investors buying into a CARA‐normal CAPM market pay lower asset prices, gain higher ex‐ante expected returns, and obtain higher expected utility, when the market payoff has higher variance. New investors obtain similar “welfare” gains from risk under a log/power utility CAPM. These results do not imply that investors “abhor information.” To realize investors' ex‐ante expectations, the subjective probability distributions representing market expectations must be accurate. Greater payoff risk can add to investors' expected utility, but higher ex‐post(realized) utility comes from better information and more accurate ex‐ante expectations. An important implication for accounting is that greater disclosure can have the simultaneous effects of (i) exposing more fully or perceptibly firms' payoff uncertainty, thereby increasing new investors' expected utility, and (ii) improving market estimates of firms' payoff parameters (means, variances, covariances), thereby giving investors a better chance of realizing their expectations. Paradoxically, better information can be valuable to new investors by exposing more fully and more accurately the risk in firms' business operations and results–new investors maximizing expected utility want both more risk and better information.     

At What Age Do You Expect to Retire? Retirement Expectations and Increases in the Statutory Retirement Age

We analyse the extent to which an increase in the statutory retirement age affects individuals' retirement expectations. Understanding how individuals adjust their expectations is crucial to the evaluation of this policy, since retirement expectations directly affect other important decisions such as labour supply, engagement in (further) education and, of course, savings and investments. We consider the 2007 German pension reform that legislated an increase in the statutory retirement age from 65 years to 67. Our analysis is based on a longitudinal study that directly asks respondents at what age they expect to retire. Using a difference‐in‐differences approach, we look at the changes in subjective retirement expectations over time and estimate the extent to which they can be attributed to the 2007 reform. We find that the reform shifted the retirement expectations of the younger cohorts, although there is some heterogeneity in the way individuals adjusted. While there are no significant differences between men and women, lower‐educated individuals failed to revise their expectations. As these individuals usually acquire both lower pension claims and lower private savings, the fact that they have been slower in updating their retirement expectations causes concern regarding their income security after retirement.     

Demographic Change and Pension Reform in Spain: An Assessment in a Two‐Earner,OLG Model*

Recent pension reforms in Spain have been guided by two opposite goals: achieving financial stability and improving redistributive aspirations. In particular, reforms implemented in 1997/2001 entailed a mixture of both through: (i) changes in the pension formula; (ii) the extension of entitlement to early retirement to all cohorts; and (iii) increases in survival pensions. This paper builds an applied general equilibrium OLG model that captures the fundamental non‐stationarity of the Spanish reality (ageing population, education transition and increasing female attachment to the labour market) to assess the impact of those reforms. As a novel feature with respect to the literature, households in our model economy are made up of two potential earners who make saving and labour supply decisions. Our main conclusions from the analysis are at three different levels. First, the Spanish pension system is clearly unsustainable, with pension expenditure reaching a figure of about 18 per cent of GDP in 2050, and the reforms have clearly been     

拉丁美洲养老保险改革及其对中国的启示

自20世纪80年代起拉丁美洲国家对养老保险制度进行改革,将养老保险由国家公共管理改革为私有化运营或多种模式并存的方式。拉丁美洲国家作为发展中国家,其背景、社会条件和经济实力与中国类似,可以作为中国养老保险改革的参照样板;其多样化的改革方式及复杂的改革背景可以作为实践案例对中国的养老保险改革提供参考,对中国正在进行的养老保险改革和新模式创立提供借鉴。本文从国际化的视角选取拉美国家进行案例研究,通过比较分析其各自改革的手段和效果,结合中国的实际情况进行分析借鉴;尤其针对在加速城市化背景下中国长期二元社会突显的大批城乡移民养老保险问题,根据拉美私营化改革结果,借鉴吸收其经验教训,创新性提出中国城乡移民养老保险多元化的经营模式。     

Disclosure of Private Information and Reduction of Uncertainty: Environmental Liabilities in the Chemical Industry

We investigate the potential uncertainty-reducing role of accounting information in the context of contingent Superfund liability valuation. We first develop theoretical arguments for the way reduction of uncertainty regarding these contingent liabilities is expected to affect security prices. Empirical proxies are developed for two types of uncertainty surrounding contingent Superfund liabilities: site uncertainty and allocation uncertainty. In a valuation framework, we then investigate whether financial statement disclosures and accruals reduce uncertainty and thereby affect security valuation. Specifically, we analyze the interaction of private information contained in firm disclosures and accruals with inherent uncertainty surrounding contingent Superfund liabilities. Results suggest that in a regulatory environment allowing substantial reporting discretion, firm-provided financial statement information affects valuation of contingent Superfund liabilities by reducing uncertainty. Further, we find that information revealed through accruals versus disclosures is differentially effective at reducing site and allocation uncertainty.     

英国工党政府养老金制度改革述评:公平和效率的视角

面对不断增加的贫困人口和持续扩大的收入差距,面对急剧攀升的老年抚养比和严重不足的养老储蓄,英国工党政府在养老保障领域采取了一系列改革措施。改革的核心内容就是协调公平和效率问题。公平问题主要涉及减少贫困人口,缩小收入差距;效率问题主要涉及降低政府养老金负担,发展私营养老金,增加养老储蓄。总体而言,工党政府执政期间,英国贫困人口大幅减少,收入差距扩大的趋势得到明显遏制,政府养老金负担保持稳定,私营养老金的作用越来越大。因此,工党政府的养老金改革较好地协调了公平和效率问题,有利于英国养老保障制度的可持续发展。     

养老金收入如何提升农村老年人主观福利?——基于相对剥夺的机理分析与实证检验

基于相对剥夺理论,分析养老金收入对农村老年人主观福利影响机理,并通过面板分位数回归检验养老金收入对农村老年人主观福利的异质性影响。结果表明：养老金收入增加在提升农村老年人主观福利的同时,还能缩小其主观福利差距。养老金收入增加对女性、低龄和低收入农村老年人的主观福利影响更大,相对剥夺在其中发挥部分中介作用。鉴于此,应以公平、适度为目标,缩小养老金收入差距,切实提高农村老年人的幸福感与获得感。     

Developments in pension reform: the case of Dutch stand-alone collective pension schemes

Corporate defined-benefit plans suffer from a number of serious weaknesses, including credit risk of the sponsor, ambiguous ownership of the surplus and back-loading of benefits. Also defined-contribution plans feature drawbacks. Individuals are not well equipped to make the complex financial decisions involved, transaction costs are substantial and various risks are not managed properly over the life cycle. Stand-alone collective pension schemes offer an attractive third way between corporate defined-benefit schemes and individual defined-contribution schemes. The members of the fund are the risk bearers and the funds manage risk aimed at providing an adequate income level during retirement at low costs. Dutch pension funds are evolving into such stand-alone pension schemes. Some directions for future reforms are sketched.     

Pensions in the transformation process: the situation in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Conclusion The decisive reform approach taken in Hungary shows that radical reforms can be undertaken, although Hungary has had the advantage that its financial markets were already comparatively well developed. Some of the greatest challenges facing the transition countries in the coming years will be in the social field. Success in meeting these challenges will go a considerable way to determining the prospects for economic growth. In this, the labour market situation remains one of the most important aspects. In the final analysis, the number of employed contribution-payers determines the scope for old-age provision. There is no single ideal concept for pension reform. The question of whether changes in the existing pay-as-you-go system will suffice or more far-reaching measures are required can only be answered with a view to the concrete conditions prevailing in each individual country. While from a social point of view a gradual transition is to be preferred, the longer governments wait to take the necessary steps, the harsher and less popular the necessary measures are likely to become in future. Overall it can be expected that the three-pillar model of pension insurance will spread in the transition countries, i.e. part of the public pension insurance system will be converted to the fully funded principle.     

德国新型个人储蓄性养老保险计划述评

德国新型个人储蓄性养老保险计划(里斯特养老金和吕库普养老金)通过税收优惠和直接补贴的方式极大地激发了个人购买储蓄性养老保险计划的热情,多角度分析上述两种养老金计划,总结其成功经验,对我国促进个人储蓄性养老保险计划的发展有一定的启示。     

Official forecasts and management of oil windfalls

Official forecasts for oil revenues and the burden of pensioners are used to estimate forward-looking fiscal policy rules for Norway and compared with permanent-income and bird-in-hand rules. The results suggest that fiscal reactions have been partial forward-looking with respect to the rising pension bill, but backward-looking with respect to oil and gas revenues. Solvency of the government finances might be an issue with the fiscal rules estimated from historical data. Simulation suggests that declining oil and gas revenue and the costs of a rapidly graying population will substantially deteriorate the net government asset position by 2060 unless fiscal policy becomes more prudent or current pension and fiscal reforms are successful.     

制度的并轨与定型:养老保险制度中国化进入崭新阶段

国务院常务会议决定建立全国统一的城乡居民基本养老保险制度,标志着中国特色新型养老保险制度已由试点转入定型和全面中国化的崭新阶段。城乡居民基本养老保险制度的定型,不仅率先拉开了养老保险制度并轨的大幕,也拉开了养老保险制度革命性变革的大幕。全面建成中国特色新型养老保险制度关键是确立"保基本、全覆盖、有弹性、能转移、可持续"的核心价值观,实行中国化、公平化、市场化、城镇化和可持续化改革,走出一条农村包围城市的改革之路,创建中国特色新型养老保险制度建设理论。同时,提出了"双向推进"、"小并轨"、"大并轨"等改革方案,而实施上述制度创新和改革需要的只是思路和工作的微调,效果则是可以全面建成基础养老金与个人账户相结合的制度模式,彻底放弃社会统筹与个人账户相结合制度模式。     

“De‐risking” Corporate Pension Plans: Options for CFOs

Until the stock market bubble burst in 2000–2002, most CFOs viewed their defined benefit pension plans as profit centers and relatively risk‐free sources of income. Since neither pension assets nor liabilities were reported on corporate balance sheets, and expected returns on pension stocks could be substituted for actual returns when reporting net income, the risks associated with DB plans were masked by GAAP accounting and thus assumed to have no bearing on corporate capital structure. But when stock prices and corporate profits fell together, the risks associated with conventional stock‐heavy pension plans showed up first in reduced pension surpluses (or, in many cases, deficits) and then later in higher required cash contributions and lower reported earnings. As a consequence, today's investors (and rating agencies) are viewing pension and other legacy liabilities as corporate debt, and demands for transparency and increased funding have triggered accounting changes and proposed legislative reforms that will further unmask the economics. This article aims to provide both private‐sector and public‐sector CFOs with suggestions for reducing and controlling the cost of providing for the retirement of their employees. Profitable, tax‐paying companies with DB plans should consider (1) funding any unfunded liabilities (if necessary, by issuing debt) and (2) reducing pension equity and interest rate exposures by shifting some (if not all) pension assets into bonds and defeasing the pension liability (achieving a tax arbitrage in the process). And in cases where the expected costs of maintaining DB plans outweigh the benefits, companies should consider freezing or terminating their plans and switching to a defined contribution (DC) or some form of hybrid plan. The authors also propose similar changes for public pension plans, where underfunding and mismatch problems are greater, less transparent, and in some ways less tractable than those of corporate DB plans.     

Commercial Bank Portfolio Behavior and Endogenous Uncertainty

This paper demonstrates how Bayesian information may be analyzed as a variable input in determining an optimal bank portfolio and investigates the impact of information in a way that is statistically satisfactory. A portfolio model is developed, and the impact of information is analyzed. Information is treated as an economic input that is used up to the point where its predicted marginal benefit is exactly equal to its marginal cost, and, from there, the optimal demand for information is derived. A comparative-static analysis demonstrates that the reaction of optimal portfolio holdings to interest rate changes under variable uncertainty is dramatically different from portfolio behavior when uncertainty is exogenous. Finally, the elasticity of reserves with respect to scale is examined under the assumption of variable uncertainty.     

Compliance with pension‐related mandatory disclosures and debt financing

Using hand‐collected data on the level of pension‐related mandatory disclosures required by International Accounting Standard 19 Employee Benefits, we test whether compliance levels with these disclosures convey information that affects firms’ access to the public instead of the private debt market, as well as the cost of their new debt issues. We document a higher tendency to access the public debt market for firms with higher levels of pension‐related disclosure. Furthermore, we find that firms with higher levels of pension‐related disclosure enjoy a lower cost in terms of issuance of public debt, but not a lower cost for private debt issues. Thus, the benefits of disclosure in reducing information risk are only realisable when creditors rely heavily on financial statements in their decision making, due to the limited access to private information. Additional tests reveal that high compliance levels effectively mitigate the negative effect of pension deficits on the cost of public debt. These findings provide novel evidence in the extant literature on the role of mandatory (and, in particular, pension‐related) disclosures on firms’ debt financing. They also have important policy implications.