On the first anniversary of the death of Nobel Laureate Professor Franco Modigliani, the Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies (LIEIS) organised a conference on 'Reforming European Pension Systems' on 24 and 25 September 2004 in Schengen. Initially, the intention was to hold this conference in the presence of Professor Modigliani who had written a comprehensive paper for the LIEIS. However, due to ill health, such a meeting had to be postponed repeatedly. A third date was set two days before Professor Modigliani's death. One year on, the LIEIS convened colleagues and friends to honour his memory and life-long work and to discuss his ideas in relation to pension reforms in Europe. In the course of 5 sessions, approximately 30 participants from about 10 countries debated the following questions: (1) the open legacy of Franco Modigliani and European pension reforms (2) the Modigliani-Muralidhar approach to pension reform (3) various funding modes and issues of transition (4) lessons and outlook on pension reforms in Europe (5) alternatives for pension reform in Luxembour Our research paper, which will appear in abridged form in the forthcoming Conference volume, published by Rozenberg publishers, Amsterdam, compares the cross national effects of pension reform on 33 indicators of social, economic, political and ecological well-being of nations with the effects on these 33 variables by dependency, the adherence to the advice by international financial institutions, world political or world cultural identities; the aging process; feminism, militarism; the public education effort and the development level. Traditionally, world system approaches explain human and economic misery by the dependent insertion of the periphery and the semi-periphery into the global economy. It is true that the ascending countries of East Asia, whose investment is often much higher than their savings rate, are at the winning side in the global social equation. It is also true that unequal exchange (ERDI) is still an important phenomenon, significantly explaining many processes of development. However, the privatization of public education, especially at the Third level, the developmental negative consequences of female distribution coalitions as well as the imperative of pension reform have been up to now neglected in cross-national development research. Interestingly enough, economic freedom as such is also not as relevant as pension reform in explaining economic or social success in the world system. We can say that foreign savings and pension reforms are among the most highly influential positive determinants of development today, while culturalist theories and dependency theories fail to achieve the levels of significance we had originally expected when compared to the new cross-national variable pension reform. These findings have important repercussions for the European debate on pension reform and the Lisbon strategy to catch up with the US by 2010 to make Europe the most competitive region in the world economy. European Union membership years by themselves are lamentably enough a rather negative determinant of the processes of development due to the cumbersome mechanisms and distribution coalitions that European institutions present, and the reliance of many countries in the European Union on publicly financed systems of education also has to be reconsidered. Political feminism is another master variable of the European political discourse and it is the main loser in the 1990s and the early years of the 21st Century, indicating again that political distribution coalitions are likely to lose today and tomorrow. The results reported clearly indicate that world systems studies would be well advised to take the processes of pension reform very seriously. To neglect pension funds in investigations about the capitalist world economy would be misleading at any rate. Private pension funds already amount to 44% of current world GDP, with countries like the United States; Japan; United Kingdom; Netherlands; Canada; Switzerland; Australia; Sweden; Ireland; Finland; and Denmark taking the lead in fund development either via the introduction of a World Bank three pillar models or simply via a strong element of private pensions (the third pillar) besides the first, traditional PAYGO pillar (like presently in the United States of America). Slow pension fund development in most countries of the Euro-zone determines that the overall share of private pension funds from the Euro-zone is just over 2% of world GDP. If Europe wants to fulfill its Lisbon agenda of catching up with the United States, it must overhaul its pension systems and introduce some form or other of private pension funds, which are a major force in financing technological advance in the capitalist world economy today. Our investigations also clearly show that World Bank pension reforms are associated in a positive way with the rates of change of a country's performance to the better.

"Formal pension systems are an important means of reducing poverty among the aged. In recent years, however, pension reform has become a pressing matter, as demographic aging, poor administration, early retirement, and unaffordable benefits have strained pension balances and overall public finances. Pension systems have become a source of macroeconomic instability, a constraint to economic growth, and an ineffective and/or inequitable provider of retirement income."

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.

This book presents 25 state of the art papers on the conceptual foundations and issues surrounding Non-financial, or Notional, Defined Contribution (NDC), country implementation of NDC (Italy, Latvia, Poland, and Sweden) and case studies for countries where NDC is figured in the reform debate. This book is intended to be a handbook for academics and policy makers who want to become informed about what NDC is and to learn about the pros and cons of this attractive reform proposal.

Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. New ways of production are adopted, markets expand, and societies evolve. But some changes provoke more attention than others, in part due to the vast uncertainty involved in making predictions about the future. The 2019 World Development Report will study how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Technological progress disrupts existing systems. A new social contract is needed to smooth the transition and guard against rising inequality. Significant investments in human capital throughout a person’s lifecycle are vital to this effort. If workers are to stay competitive against machines they need to train or retool existing skills. A social protection system that includes a minimum basic level of protection for workers and citizens can complement new forms of employment. Improved private sector policies to encourage startup activity and competition can help countries compete in the digital age. Governments also need to ensure that firms pay their fair share of taxes, in part to fund this new social contract. The 2019 World Development Report presents an analysis of these issues based upon the available evidence.

The essays in this volume, first published in 2001, examine fiscal policy-making and providing for social welfare in post-socialist countries.

This study finds that pension reforms in recent years have improved the efficiency and sustainability of pension systems in the new member states of the European Union and Croatia. However, for many countries, these probably have not gone far enough to ensure long-term sustainability, given the aging of the population. Reforms have included changes to Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) systems, including increases in retirement ages (not at least for women), new benefit formulas, and new indexation mechanism. Some countries (Latvia and Poland) have further strengthened the link of contributions and benefits to the sustainability of the PAYG system through the introduction of national defined contribution accounts. The link is strengthened also by moving to a point system, which has been adopted by many of the countries. Several countries have introduced a second, private, pension pillar, funded through diversion of part of the pension contributions, thereby diversifying risk. However, some countries (in particular the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Romania) will need to do more to safeguard the long-term viability of their pension systems, while others face challenges to ensure equitable pension systems and adequate living standards for all elderly people.