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

Three routes to pension reform: politics and institutions in reforming pensions in Denmark, Finland and Sweden

O. Kangas, U. Lundberg and N. Ploug

Social Policy and Administration, vol. 44, 2010, p. 265-284

This paper presents a comparative analysis of pension reforms in Sweden, Finland and Denmark. In Sweden, the whole system was changed in one big reform, but in Finland and Denmark consecutive small adjustments produced a new pension design. In Sweden politicians planned the reform, in Finland and Denmark labour market actors were the driving force, and in none of the cases did consultation with pensioners' organisations play an important role. All three cases show a high degree of obfuscation: the reforms, particularly the gradual changes, were difficult for the general public to comprehend and their effects will only become visible after decades.