scholarly journals Pension multi-pillarisation in Italy: actors, ‘institutional gates’ and the ‘new politics’ of funded pensions

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Jessoula
Keyword(s):  
Universal Coverage ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
New Politics ◽  
Comprehensive Plan ◽  
Funded Pensions ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Coverage Rates

A latecomer to supplementary funded pension provision, Italy’s multi-pillarisation plan was launched in the 1990s under extremely adverse conditions. Supplementary schemes were expected to achieve universal coverage relying primarily on second pillar occupational pension funds. Twenty-five years after its launch, the comprehensive plan can hardly be called successful with respect to both coverage and the relative importance of second and third pillar institutions. Extreme variation in coverage rates between occupational categories and across economic sectors suggests, however, that these developments cannot be merely interpreted as a consequence of institutional resilience and path-dependent dynamics. The article applies an ‘actor-centred institutionalist’ framework to respond to three main questions. What explains the still limited coverage of supplementary pillars in Italy? What factors account for the prominent role played by third pillar pension schemes in contrast to policy-makers’ original intentions? Which factors allow us to understand the significant variation in coverage across both occupational categories and economic sectors?

Automatic enrolment to pension plans in small organisations: a research agenda

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen Maloney ◽  
Alma McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Firm Size ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Pension Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Small Employers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse how firm size impacts pension workforce coverage with a particular focus on automatic enrolment (AE) to pension plans in small organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the alignment of government AE interests with those of small employers, their employees and pension providers to better understand how firm size impacts pension workforce coverage.FindingsThe alignment of interests between stakeholders (government, pension providers, employers and employees) differs between large and small organisations, and empirical findings from large organisations cannot be assumed to apply in small organisations.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper calls attention to the need for future empirical research and identifies a number of research questions for further analysis to examine how AE impacts pension participation in small organisations and advance the field.Originality/valueThe policy of automatically enroling employees into occupational pension plans, recently legislated for all eligible workers in the UK and under consideration in the USA and Ireland, was developed from research conducted in a small number of large organisations. Pension coverage is particularly inadequate for the large number of employees working in small organisations (1–49 employees). However, little research attention has been focussed on pensions in small organisations with pension policy makers assuming that legislated AE will work as effectively in small organisations as it did in large organisations. This paper addresses this gap in the field.

The silent pension pillar implosion

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Pension Plans ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Pension Policy ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Fiscal Law ◽  
Occupational Plans ◽  
The Individual

This article discusses recent trends in occupational pension policy and identifies the rise of a second policy wave directed towards greater individualisation in occupational pension plans. It is clear that, at a global level, governments and regulatory offices are promoting the so-called third pillar as a valuable pension option and that freedom of choice of the individual is a key element in this process. This individualisation reflects the decreasing involvement of employers in occupational plans and the increasing attentiveness of governments towards individual retirement schemes. We ask whether the so-called first and third pillar are pushing the second pillar away and whether there is a silent pension pillar implosion. In the article, we describe and analyse recent legislative and regulatory initiatives in six European countries to locate the individualisation process. We also propose a new paradigm for pension policy makers in which the so-called pension pillars are abandoned and replaced by an integrated pension vision leading to a balanced target income in retirement. In this integrated vision, there is a legal link between all forms of pension in a given country. This link is reflected in social and fiscal law.

scholarly journals Mired in Reservations: The Path-Dependent History of Electoral Quotas in India

2014 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca R. Jensenius
Keyword(s):  
Quota System ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scheduled Castes ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Electoral Quotas ◽  
Dependent Processes

Since independence, India has had electoral quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs, Dalits, “untouchables”). These quotas have been praised for empowering members of a deprived community, but have also been criticized for bringing to power SC politicians who are mere tools in the hands of the upper castes. Tracing the history of these quotas through four critical junctures, I show how a British attempt to strengthen their own control of India eventually resulted in one of the world's most extensive quota systems for minorities. The quota system was in the end a compromise between several political goals, and was not strongly supported by anyone. Also, while the quotas were designed to integrate SC politicians into mainstream politics, there was a subtle and gradual shift in the debate about them, to being about development for the SC community as such. This created a disjuncture between the design of the quota system and the expectation of what it would achieve. The case of quotas in India illustrates how policy choices often result from long path-dependent processes, how policy makers struggle with trade-offs when trying to design institutions, and also the power of expectations in shaping the perceptions of the outcomes of those institutions.

scholarly journals Immunisation and the law : slippery slope to a healthy society

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jessica Dorothy Kerr
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Population Immunity ◽  
Point Of Entry ◽  
Decision Making Capacity ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
Parental Autonomy ◽  
Coverage Rates

<p>The immunisation of children against communicable diseases is a crucial public health intervention with both individual and collective outcomes. Current New Zealand immunisation policy prioritises parental autonomy, but has not succeeded in actively targeting all of the factors that prevent parents from ever making informed immunisation decisions. Consequently, our coverage rates are unsatisfactory both in absolute (by reference to the goal of 'population immunity') and relative terms. In order to have a realistic chance of meeting the Ministry of Health's optimistic coverage targets, it is necessary to consider whether New Zealand's comparatively weak immunisation law could be strengthened to eliminate the phenomenon of 'passive' non-immunisation without fatally undermining the decision-making capacity of parents. If this is not possible, then either the goal of population immunity or the prioritisation of individual choice must be abandoned. Of the three options for law reform explored by this paper, two are thought to be unworkable because they would, or should, be perceived as failing to achieve the delicate balance between individual freedom and public good. These are, first, a universal mandatory immunisation requirement, which may be justifiable in principle but would almost certainly encounter prohibitive public opposition; and, secondly, a targeted law that would require beneficiaries to make active decisions about immunisation, and (it is submitted) represents an unwarranted misuse of the vulnerability of those dependent upon taxpayer support. The reform option recommended is more moderate and more equitable. Creating a legal presumption in favour of immunisation, at the point of entry into primary school, would shift New Zealand from its current paradigm of 'informed consent' - whereby parents must actively opt in to immunisation - to a United States-style model that required parents who wished to opt out of immunisation to undergo a 'informed refusal' process. The stringency of this process would depend upon the degree to which policy-makers were satisfied that only those parents whose deeply held convictions prevented them from being open to persuasion were attempting to invoke it. Unless the size of the anti-immunisation lobby significantly increases, it is suggested that an informed refusal requirement could successfully tackle the problem of passive non-immunisation, thereby discharging the State's responsibility to further the interest of all New Zealanders in achieving and maintaining population immunity levels.</p>

scholarly journals The New Economy in China: An Intercity Comparison

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402097787
Author(s):  
Zhongqi Deng ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Ao Yu
Keyword(s):  
Index System ◽  
New Economy ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Comprehensive Index ◽  
Development Direction ◽  
The World ◽  
Big Data Technologies ◽  
The Index System

Today, the world is witnessing an enormous new economic wave, which has become an important and growing contributor to economic development. However, few studies compare the overall development of all new economic sectors in different cities or countries. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature on the 21st century new economy in China, which is viewed as a crucial development direction. Accordingly, the new economic situation in 2018 in 15 major cities of China is evaluated by constructing an index system and adopting some new big-data technologies, whereby a new economy comprehensive index (NECI) for each city is obtained. This study finds that the cities ranked from high to low in the NECI are Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Nanjing, Chongqing, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuxi, Tianjin, Qingdao, and Xi’an. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen belong to the first hierarchy. The findings provide a nuanced perspective on the intercity comparison of the new economy, and the index system presented in the study is urgently-needed for policy makers. Finally, based on the case study of Chengdu the study offers rich insights to city administrators in terms of how to promote the new economy.

scholarly journals Overview of recent cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union for the special issue on strategies for Social Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-499
Author(s):  
Pauline Melin
Keyword(s):  
Pension Scheme ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Member States ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Transport ◽  
Transport Workers ◽  
Funded Pensions ◽  
Social Europe

Being part of the special issue on strategies for Social Europe, this overview of recent cases before the Court of Justice is focused on matters that are high on the European agenda for Social Europe. Firstly, in the aftermath of the economic crisis, many Member States had to reduce their generous pension schemes. The YS case, rendered by the Grand Chamber on the 23rd September 2020, deals with the limits afforded by the Member States when they reduce an occupational pension scheme in order to secure the continuity of State-funded pensions. Secondly, the status of “self-employed” delivery carriers operating in the gig economy is being discussed in many Member States’ courts. In the Yodel case, the Court of Justice clarified in July 2020 whether such delivery carriers should be considered as “self-employed persons” or as “workers” for the purposes of the Working Time Directive. Lastly, the AFMB case concerns the underlying issue of using a company situated in a Member State as the formal employer of international transport workers in order to benefit from more advantageous social security legislation. The Court then determined in April 2020 the criteria to establish who is the actual employer of international transport workers.

Elephants on the move. Patterns of public pension reform in OECD countries

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Hinrichs
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Universal Coverage ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Public Pension ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Old Age Security ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
The 1960S

Among OECD countries there are two clusters of old-age security systems: (1) ‘Social insurance’ countries had, by the end of the 1960s, fashioned the core of old-age security as public, contributory, earnings-related and unfunded insurance schemes; (2) a diverse collection of countries that, after 1970, topped up their basic pension arrangements with funded occupational pension schemes with (almost) universal coverage. ‘Social insurance’ countries, on which this essay focuses, reveal at least six common trends in pension reform, all about improving the financial sustainability of public schemes. Although the repertoire of incremental adjustment strategies is quite limited, policy changes since the early 1980s have not led to a clear convergence among ‘social insurance’ countries (or across the two clusters). Their original diversity has been somewhat diminished, but it has for the most part merely taken a different form. Public pension reforms regularly harmed (future) beneficiaries. Nevertheless, most reforms were actually based on broad political consensus. The success of attempts to introduce retrenchment policies depends on prior negotiation with – and support obtained from – collective actors above and beyond a simple parliamentary majority. This peculiar prerequisite ensures success in the sense of a sustained implementation of the measures taken and of actual improvement in public trust in ‘reliable’ pension schemes.

scholarly journals Animal Welfare, Health and the Fight against Climate Change: One Solution for Global Objectives

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1248
Author(s):  
Giancarlo Bozzo ◽  
Marialaura Corrente ◽  
Giovanni Testa ◽  
Gaia Casalino ◽  
Michela Maria Dimuccio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Current System ◽  
Meat Production ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Climate Transition

Climate change is internationally recognized as a source of concern by governments, scientists and public opinion. In this context, the need to find concrete solutions becomes increasingly urgent. Numerous economic sectors contribute to alteration of climate, especially livestock and, more generally, food production-related activities. For this reason, animal welfare policies, the complex of norms and regulations adopted by single Member States and the European Union in the field of meat production, could be a useful instrument in the climate transition invoked by policy makers and scientists. The aim of this paper was to analyze the current system of animal welfare from a legal and veterinary perspective, and to demonstrate how important and useful, it could be in the fight against climate change; at least if correctly implemented and applied.

scholarly journals Designing tailored interventions to address barriers to vaccination

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-169
Author(s):  
Katrine Habersaat ◽  
Noni E MacDonald ◽  
Ève Ève Dubé
Keyword(s):  
Implementation Process ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
World Health ◽  
Regional Office ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Planning Framework ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Coverage Rates ◽  
The Impact

Despite efforts to promote vaccination and make vaccination services easily accessible, vaccination coverage rates remain below the target rate for many vaccines in various jurisdictions. The Tailoring Immunization Programmes (TIP) approach was developed by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe to support efforts of countries to achieve high and equitable vaccination uptake. In this Canadian Vaccination Evidence Resource and Exchange Centre (CANVax) series, we present key insights from the TIP planning framework to assist vaccine program planners, policy makers and vaccine providers to identify the interventions that will lead to increased vaccine uptake. The TIP is a phased approach that involves the following: 1) a clear diagnosis of the root cause of low vaccination; 2) an intervention based on this understanding; and 3) an evaluation of the implementation process and the impact of the interventions. At the provider-patient level, the approaches and insights of the TIP planning framework could inform vaccination consultation by emphasizing the importance of engaging with and listening to the patients and caregivers, and responding to their needs.

scholarly journals Privatization in the Land of Believers: The political economy of privatization in Pakistan

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 1695-1726 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAMAL MUNIR ◽  
NATALYA NAQVI
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Development ◽  
International Financial Institutions ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Business Interests

AbstractDespite theoretical justifications and empirical evidence that state-owned enterprises have played an important role in late development, as well as over three decades of evidence that privatization programmes since the 1980s have had mixed results at best, international financial institutions continue prescribing privatization as a panacea for developing countries. Pakistan is an interesting case to understand why privatization is still considered desirable, because it is one of a set of developing countries that have whole-heartedly implemented Washington Consensus policies. In this context, we analyse privatization in two key economic sectors in Pakistan: energy and banking. Using qualitative and quantitative data, we describe the motivations behind these privatizations, the process by which they were carried out, and analyse the post-privatization performance of these organizations and sectors. We find that in both cases (a) the privatizations failed not only with respect to their stated aims, leading to a decline in national productive capabilities, but also had adverse distributional consequences, shifting the rewards to the buyers while the risks and costs remained with the public sector, and (b) the suboptimal outcomes of the privatizations went largely unchallenged aided by a prevalent neoliberal view amongst the country's economic policy makers and intelligentsia. Our analysis sheds new light on the process by which privatization in the absence of a state with the capacity to discipline business interests has enabled these interests to obtain state-sponsored rents without bringing any of the associated benefits for economic development.

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