Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2010): Pensions - overseas

Are old age pension system reforms moving away from individual retirement accounts in Latin America?

E. Calvo, F.M. Bertranou and E. Bertranou

Journal of Social Policy, vol. 39, 2010, p. 223-234

In the 1980s and 1990s ten Latin American countries shifted from pay-as-you-go state funded pension schemes to individual retirement accounts. This involved a movement from: contributions and taxes to contributions and savings as the funding mechanism; variable to defined contributions; defined to variable benefits; social insurance to personal savings; public to private management; and state to individual risk-sharing. In recent years a second round of reforms was initiated to strengthen to public component in pension systems and address the problems created by individual accounts. Using a comparative historical approach and policy analysis techniques, this study reviews the two rounds of pension reforms.

Performance and governance of Swiss pension funds

M. Ammann and A. Zingg

Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Vol. 9, 2010, p. 95-128

Examines the relationship between pension fund governance and investment performance, focusing on the situation in Switzerland and making comparisons with pension fund governance in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.