scholarly journals The Serbian pension system in transition: A silent break with Bismarck

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (225) ◽  
pp. 105-133
Author(s):  
Gordana Matkovic ◽  
Katarina Stanic
Keyword(s):  
Pension System ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Related System ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Transition Costs ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Pension Benefits

The pension system in Serbia was set up as Bismarckian earnings related system almost one hundred years ago. At the outset of the transition process at the beginning of 21st Century, the pension system underwent bold reforms. Despite suggestions from the World Bank to adopt a three-pillar system that would involve a break with the Bismarckian heritage, reforms concentrated on parametric adjustments that strengthened the link between previous earnings and pension benefits. However, as this paper shows, the Bismarckian earnings-related system has subsequently been silently challenged. On the basis of an analysis of the current and perspective replacement rates for various earning levels and pension variation indicators, we show how the contributions/ benefit link has been undermined. These policy changes have not been defined or understood as a new strategic course of action, nor have the strategic options been debated and analysed. These silent reforms have seemed to be a ?quick and easy? solution to tackle high public expenditures and deficits without understanding their implications, and that breaking up with Bismarck implies significant transition costs.

Impact of the Economic and Financial Crisis on Pension Systems in Central and Eastern Europe: Hungary

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
András Simonovits
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
Government Deficit ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
The Government ◽  
Pension Benefits ◽  
Economic And Financial Crisis

By 2008, the Hungarian pension system had grown too generous (with the average pension to average net wage ratio equaling 70%) and the implied contribution rate (32%) was hindering growth (dropping to 1% in 2007). When the international economic and financial crisis deprived Hungary of normal credits, the country’s government turned to international organizations for help. The most spectacular element of the conditions attached to the bailout package was the short and long-term reduction of pension benefits. Within months, the Hungarian government eliminated the unsustainable 13th month benefit, reduced health-insurance contribution rates, replaced wage-price indexation with price indexation and drastically increased the normal retirement age in the medium-run. The newly elected conservative party practically shut down the second pillar and used up the released capital not only to reduce the government deficit and debt but also to finance public expenditures.

scholarly journals Towards Zero Emissions Noosa

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 4679
Author(s):  
Carina Anderson ◽  
Robert Passey ◽  
Jeremy De Valck ◽  
Rakibuzzaman Shah
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Renewable Electricity ◽  
Community Group ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Engagement Process ◽  
Set Up ◽  
External Consultant

This paper reports on a case study of the community group Zero Emissions Noosa, whose goal is for 100% renewable electricity in the Noosa Shire (Queensland, Australia) by 2026. Described within this paper are the processes used by Zero Emissions Noosa to set up their zero emissions plan, involving community engagement and the use of an external consultant. The external consultant was employed to produce a detailed report outlining how to successfully achieve zero emissions from electricity in the Noosa Shire by 2026. This paper explains how and why the community engagement process used to produce the report was just as important as the outcomes of the report itself. Modeling was undertaken, and both detailed and contextual information was provided. Inclusion of the community in developing the scenario parameters for the modeling had a number of benefits including establishing the context within which their actions would occur and focusing their efforts on options that were technically feasible, financially viable and within their capabilities to implement. This provided a focal point for the community in calling meetings and contacting stakeholders. Rather than prescribing a particular course of action, it also resulted in a toolbox of options, a range of possible solutions that is flexible enough to fit into whatever actions are preferred by the community. The approach and outcomes discussed in this paper should, therefore, be useful to other communities with similar carbon emission reduction goals.

Social security, income inequality and growth

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
GILLES LE GARREC
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Industrial Countries ◽  
Lifetime Income ◽  
Actuarial Fairness ◽  
Retirement Systems ◽  
Pension Benefits ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractIn most industrial countries, public pension systems redistribute from workers to retired people, not from high-income to low-income earners. They are close actuarial fairness. However, they are not all equivalent. In particular, some pension benefits are linked to full lifetime average earnings, while others are only linked to partial earnings history. In the latter case, we then show in this article that an actuarially fair pay-as-you-go pension system can both reduce lifetime income inequality and enhance economic growth. We also shed light on the dilemma between inequality and economic growth in retirement systems: greater progressivity results in less lifetime inequlity but also less growth.

De pensioenbescherming van flexibele werknemers in België

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelies Debels ◽  
Hans Peeters ◽  
Gert Verschraegen ◽  
Jos Berghman
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
The Third ◽  
Temporal Flexibility ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Coordinated Regulation ◽  
Pension Benefits

Old age protection of flexible workers in Belgium Old age protection of flexible workers in Belgium This article investigates to what extent the Belgian pension system is adapted to the proliferation of a-typical forms of employment. Are there any differences between the old age protection of flexible and non-flexible workers? What are the effects of flexible employment on participation in the three pension pillars and on the level of pension benefits? To answer these questions, the article pursues a double research strategy: an analysis of Belgian legislation and relevant collective labour agreements is complemented with a statistical analysis on the Panel Study of Belgian Households (PSBH). The analyses show that part-time employment results in a lower pension, while other forms of temporal flexibility such as temporary leave arrangements and temporary unemployment do not. In the second pillar we find that contractual and transitional flexible workers are discriminated. Finally, the results indicate that flexible workers do not compensate for lower pension protection through increased participation in the third pension pillar. Our findings suggest that a re-assessment of the system of ‘assimilated’ periods is required, as well as the development of a system of coordinated regulation for the three pension pillars.

scholarly journals Standardization of implementation of the mandatory privately managed pillar of the pension system of Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-130
Author(s):  
Anastasiia SVIRIDOVSKA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Single Mothers ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Chernobyl Accident ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Real Effect ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Legislative Changes ◽  
State Pension ◽  
Pension Benefits

According to the current legislation, the modern Ukrainian pension system is not yet fully formed. In Ukraine, PFC contributions currently form a source of pension benefits for citizens. The solidarity pension system is crumbling . That is, as in the rest of the world, the nation is aging, the share of retirees is growing, and there is less able-bodied population. The search for new ways to save for old age is in the direction of creating a mandatory accumulation under the supervision of the state. Thus, today, a second level of the pension system, mandatory accumulative component, and a rather underdeveloped and unpopular non-state pension system, which forms the third level of the national pension system, do not function. However, in 2020, the work on the concept and bill on the mandatory savings system was intensified. Its introduction is seen as a tool that can increase both the level of pensions and their differentiation. But the world experience of such reforms shows that the real effect on payments from the savings system will have to wait at least 15-20 or even 25 years. The article examines the issue of introducing a funded pension level at the legislative level. According to the results of an expanded analysis of 19 draft laws on reforming the current pension legislation and proposals for new laws on these issues in the period from 2018 to 2021, we can conclude that there is no single concept of amending legislation, so most bills are either withdrawn or sent for further refinement. Currently, various aspects of the pension system of Ukraine are regulated by a large number of legislative acts, so there are signs of dispersion in these draft legislative changes. Most of the bills are developed to enhance the welfare of certain categories of citizens, including servicemen, single mothers, victims of the Chernobyl accident, war veterans and more. The issues of the accumulative pension system are mainly raised in the bills of 2020–2021.

Employment Effects of Publicly Financed Training Programs – The East German Experience / Beschäftigungseffekte von Fortbildungs- und Umschulungsmaßnahmen in Ostdeutschland

1999 ◽  
Vol 219 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Kraus ◽  
Patrick Puhani ◽  
Viktor Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Job Training ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
East German ◽  
Hazard Rate Models ◽  
Employment Probabilities ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Stable Employment

SummaryWe analyze the effectiveness of publicly financed training and retraining programs in east Germany as measured by their effects on individual re-employment probabilities after training. These are estimated by discrete hazard rate models on the basis of individual-level panel data. We account for unobserved individual heterogeneity in both the training participation and outcome equation. The latter differentiates between transitions into “stable” and “unstable” employment after the completion of a training program. Our findings are that in the first phase of the east German transition process, when the institutions delivering the training programs were being set up, there are no positive effects of training on the probability to find stable employment. For the period of September 1992 to November 1994, when the institutional structure for the programs was in place, we find positive effects of both on-the-job and off-the-job training for women, and positive effects of off-the-job training for men.

scholarly journals Closing the gender gap in pensions: A microsimulation analysis of the Norwegian NDC pension system

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elin Halvorsen ◽  
Axel West Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Defined Contribution ◽  
Pension Income ◽  
System A ◽  
Actuarial Fairness ◽  
Annual Earnings ◽  
Pension Benefits

In this article, we use an advanced microsimulation model to study the distributional effects of the reformed Norwegian pension system with a particular focus on gender equality. The reformed Norwegian system is based on the notional defined contribution (NDC)-formula with fixed contribution/accrual rates over the active life-phase and with accumulated pension wealth being transformed into an annuity upon retirement. A number of redistributive components are built into the system: a unisex annuity divisor, a ceiling on annual earnings, generous child credits, a possibility for widows/widowers to inherit pension rights from a deceased spouse, a targeted guarantee pensions with higher benefit rates to single pensioners compared to married/cohabitating pensioners, and finally a tax system that is particularly progressive in its treatment of pensioners and pension income. Taking complete actuarial fairness as the point of departure, we conduct a stepwise analysis to investigate how these different components of the National Insurance pension system impact on the gender gap in pensions and on general (Gini) inequality in the distribution of pension income within a cohort of pensioners. Our analysis concentrates on one birth cohort – individuals born in 1963 – and we study three different outcomes: the distribution of annual pensions early in retirement (at age 70), the distribution of the total sum of pension benefits received over retirement, and the distribution of the average annual pension benefits received over the retirement phase. In addition, we look at three alternative income concepts. These are personal income, equivalised household income, and finally an original income concept developed for this study: personal income adjusted for the economies of scale enjoyed by couple households.

Institution of Banking Pension Provisions: Preconditions, Nature, Competition with Traditional Institutions

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-55
Author(s):  
Yuriy Ezrokh
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Pension Fund ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
Econometric Analysis ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
State Pension ◽  
Pension Benefits

The article analyzes the pension reform implemented in Russia in 2013–2014, provides the modeling of possible pensions, determines the efficiency boundaries for the use of insurance and savings-insurance schemes offered by the Pension Fund of Russia. The author examines the activities and effectiveness in managing pension savings and reserves from non-state pension funds, especially the system of voluntary savings insurance. The study identifies the challenges faced by these financial institutions, which constrain the development of the Russian pension system. Drawing on logical and econometric analysis the author identifies the competitive opportunity for banks to participate in the Pension Benefits Act, calculates the proposals’ efficiency for future retirees and the banking system as a whole, determines the contribution of the proposed solutions to enhanced competition and more competitive banking environment.

A healthy body and a healthy mind: the relationship between ill-health and cognitive function in school-age children

1996 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 452-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Nokes
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
World Bank ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Infant Survival ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Health Programmes

Health of school age children and the Partnership for Child DevelopmentUntil recently, health programmes in developing countries have focused on infant survival and on the health of adolescents and, consequently, the health concerns of children of school age, falling between the ages of infancy and adolescence, have been neglected. The World Bank Development Report of 1993, stated a need to move beyond the focus on survival and to capture the concept that community health depends on the quality of life and opportunities for development. In response, the Partnership for Child Development was set up in 1992 to address the problem of ill-health among school-age children in the developing world.

scholarly journals Successful Limb-Sparing Wide Excision of a Giant Lipofibromatosis in a 5-Year-Old Girl

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-184
Author(s):  
Putu Anda Tusta Adiputra
Keyword(s):  
Operating Room ◽  
Distal Femur ◽  
Surgical Decision ◽  
Left Tibia ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Left Limb ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Painless Mass ◽  
Bony Erosion

A 5-year-old girl presented with a big painless mass, sized 24 × 37 × 35 cm, in her lower left limb. MRI revealed a huge heterogeneous mass splaying from the left distal femur to the calcaneal region without bony erosion but compressing the arteries and causing bowing of the left tibia and fibula bones. The difficulty was to determine the best course of action taken which would either be limb salvation or amputation. Considering that only a few muscles could be saved, the author initially recommended amputation but still considered a limb-sparing procedure. After a double set-up examination in the operating room, the author ultimately decided to save the affected limb. The salvaged limb was found to be viable after the surgery, and there was no further recurrence over a subsequent 6-month follow-up period. The careful surgical decision is vital in giving the best possible care to the patient.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document