Company pension funds can make important contributions to retirement income and to capital market development. But they need to be regulated and supervised to avoid fraud; protect the interests of workers, and minimize restrictions on labor mobility.

" "Draconian" regulations have created distortions in asset management, limited opportunities for diversification, and, as a consequence have hampered, the performance of pension funds." This volume shows that the return to retirement assets, expected replacement rates, and, hence, the net welfare gain from pension reform is lower under a draconian regulatory framework than under a more liberal pension fund investment regime. Important policy conclusions of the paper are that existing regulatory regimes should be liberalized as soon as possible to allow pension fund investments in a wider array of financial instruments and that regulations should require evaluation of pension fund performance against market benchmarks as opposed to exclusive focus on comparisons with industry averages. The paper also suggests a review of the current structure of the private pension fund industry in Latin America and an evaluation against alternatives in the light of actual performance experience.

Unless the real rate of interest exceeds the growth rate of real wages by a significant margin, payment of a reasonable pension rate requires a high contribution rate or a high active worklife ratio.

Increasing use of life insurance instruments and company-sponsored funds in France suggests that French households may be inclined to a greater reliance on financial savings as a source of retirement income. This paper examines the challenges imposed by an aging population on the pay-as-you-go basic and supplementary pension systems, the growth of life insurance and company-sponsored funds in the absence of a comprehensive legislation on prefunded pensions, and issues related to prefunding pension schemes, such as the possibility of an welfare enhancing transition to prefunding; effects on capital markets in view of the experience in other OECD countries; and the importance of the transportability of pensions and measures fostering competition in financial markets.

This book, edited by Paul R. Mason, analyses the policy challenges that face the French economy in the second half of this decade, highlighting the need for structural changes to enhance the economy's flexibility. The authors argue that budgetary constraints will oblige France to address structural economic problems by reducing social benefits and cutting government expediture.

'This collection of essays on a rapidly developing topic is a valuable addition to the field and the editors must be congratulated on beginning to bring the area to the attention of thinkers and government (not necessarily the same thing), who are charged with dealing with the challenge of controlling private pension provision.' - Robin Ellison, Pensions