Welfare Reform on the Web (February 2003): Pensions - Overseas

PENSIONS AND THE REDUCTION OF NON-WAGE LABOUR COSTS: MODELLING A DECADE OF REFORMS IN GERMANY

J. J. de Deken

journal of European Social Policy, vol. 12, 2002, p. 277-291

The reduction of non-wage labour costs has become a priority in virtually all social insurance reforms in the European Union. In this context, the paper discusses recent pension reform in Germany that seeks to introduce a privately administered funded element into the statutory pay-as-you-go scheme. Concludes by critically assessing the extent to which this partial return to funding will allow the country to cope with the costs of providing social security for an ageing population.

BEYOND PRIVATIZATION: PENSION REFORM IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVENIA

K. Müller

Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 12, 2002, p. 293-306

Following a series of reforms the pension system in the Czech Republic and Slovenia is essentially two-tiered, combining a public mandatory pay-as-you-go scheme with a supplementary funded tier. Paper explores reasons why policy-makers in these two countries rejected the "new pension orthodoxy" which advocates the privatisation of old age security.