Old Age Security In Transitional Economies

Pension reform has proved even more contentious an issue than privatization during the former communist countries' transition to a market- based economy.

This book attempts to document the ongoing, and especially the most recent, transformation of retirement in Canadian society. Such transformation is coming about because of such factors as the growing number of women retirees, changing economic conditions, types of jobs being created, involuntary or early retirement, and restrained government spending. The book examines changes in the transition to retirement along three dimensions: the timing of retirement, and specifically the trend toward retirement at younger ages; the process of retirement, sometimes preceded by a period of unemployment or non-standard employment; and the financing of retirement, including the sources of income and the distribution of income among retiree groups.

First, the expert contributors argue, Asia must find ways to sustain rapid economic growth in the face of less favorable demographics, which implies slower growth of the workforce. Second, they contend, Asia must find ways to deliver affordable, adequate, and sustainable old-age economic security for its growing elderly population. Underpinned by rigorous analysis, a wide range of concrete policy options for sustaining economic growth while delivering economic security for the elderly are then presented. These include Asia-wide policy options - relevant to the entire region - such as building up strong national pension systems, while other policy options are more relevant to sub-groups of countries.

Pension reform is high on the policy agenda of many advanced and emerging market economies. In advanced economies the challenge is generally to contain future increases in public pension spending as the population ages. In emerging market economies, the challenges are often different. Where pension coverage is extensive, the issues are similar to those in advanced economies. Where pension coverage is low, the key challenge will be to expand coverage in a fiscally sustainable manner. This volume examines the outlook for public pension spending over the coming decades and the options for reform in 52 advanced and emerging market economies.

This paper describes what is understood as the social contract for seniors in Canada and looks critically at the key reasons that have been advanced for reviewing it at this time. It examines some of the solutions that have been proposed or implemented in other countries to deal with what some have seen as the crisis of an aging population, particularly in the United States, New Zealand, Australia and Europe, comparing the social contract with seniors in those countries with public policies for seniors in Canada. It traces the probable future direction of this social contract in light of known social, demographic, political and economic trends in Canada. It concludes with an outline of what is the most desirable future for the social contract for seniors in Canada, taking into account trends in health care, income security, employment and social services and describes how this future could be attained.

The past decade has brought an increasing recognition to the importance of pension systems to the economic stability of nations and the security of their aging populations. This report attempts to explain current policy thinking and update the World Bank's perspective on pension reform. This book incorporates lessons learned from recent Bank experiences and research that have significantly increased knowledge and insight regarding how best to proceed in the future. The book has a comprehensive introduction and two main parts. Part I presents the conceptual underpinnings for the Bank's thinking on pension systems and reforms, including structure of Bank lending in this area. Part II highlights key design and implementation issues where it signals areas of confidence and areas for further research and experience, and includes a section on regional reform experiences, including Latin American and Europe and Central Asia.

Population aging is perhaps the single biggest economic and social obstacle confronting AsiaÕs future. The region-wide demographic transition towards an older population is fundamentally reshaping the demographic landscape, and is giving rise to two key socio-economic challenges. This timely book provides an in-depth analysis of these challenges and presents concrete policy options for tackling them. First, the expert contributors argue, Asia must find ways to sustain rapid economic growth in the face of less favorable demographics, which implies slower growth of the workforce. Second, they contend, Asia must find ways to deliver affordable, adequate and sustainable old-age economic security for its growing elderly population. Underpinned by rigorous analysis, a wide range of concrete policy options for sustaining economic growth while delivering economic security for the elderly are then presented. These include Asia-wide policy options Ð relevant to the entire region Ð such as building up strong national pension systems, whilst other policy options are more relevant to sub-groups of countries. This stimulating and informative book will be of great interest to academics, students and researchers with an interest in Asian studies, economics generally, and more specifically, public sector economics.