This paper provides an assessment of the Polish funded pension system and the quality of the regulatory framework for the accumulation phase. There are two elements that distinguish the Polish pension fund portfolios from other reforming countries: the relatively high component of domestic equity, and the negligible component on international securities. Although this asset allocation has provided relatively high real rates of return in the past, it may not be the case in the future, as further portfolio diversification to other instruments will become necessary to ensure sustainable rates of return. The paper provides a number of recommendations to expand the opportunities of investments to pension funds. Pension fund management companies have been able to exploit scale economies in certain areas of the business, such as collection of revenues. This study proposes mechanisms to enhance them even more by centralizing also the account management system, which may also help to increase portfolio efficiency and competition. With the payout phase starting in 2009, broad definitions in areas such as the role of the public and private sector need to be established. The paper examines products and options that authorities may consider for the design of the payout phase.

This technical note for the Republic of Poland on competition and performance explains the Polish pension system and domestic capital market. Competition policies may need to be reviewed, in particular the combination of measures to maintain small pension funds operating while imposing strict caps on fees. If the government decides to continue pursuing policy of promoting competition in returns while reducing fees further, it may need to consider more structural changes in the second pillar, along the lines of the Swedish model.

This book sets out the current SME and entrepreneurship climate, reviews SME and entrepreneurship issues and policies at national and local levels, and provides observations and recommendations for improving and supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs in Poland.

Population aging will affect the performance of pension funds and financial markets in the former transition economies and require determined policy actions to complete financial market development and to promote financial literacy through education.

Europe’s pension systems –among the most celebrated features of its social welfare model— face tremendous challenges. With only 11 percent of the world’s population, Europe spends about 60 percent of global outlays on social protection, largely in pensions. In many countries, pension rules have encouraged people to retire sooner, while enjoying longer lives. Payroll taxes on a continuously expanding contributory base have financed these benefits. This model of pension provision is now being severely tested as pension systems reach maturity, while the population is aging and the labor force is starting to shrink. Measures to enable a continued tradition of providing old age security will include • raising retirement ages such that pensions are provided in the last 15 years of life, when work capacity traditionally diminishes • encouraging immigration to help fill the declining work force • rationalizing pension spending, putting priority on preventing old age poverty, and • encouraging savings to help provide the more comfortable retirement that individuals have come to expect. Some measures may be more appropriate in particular countries than others, yet undertaking all of them will likely require less drastic changes in any one of them. The specific choices will need to be discussed and agreed among each country’s own population, and be accompanied by enabling changes in pension policy, tax policy, financial markets policy, and labor policy. The fundamental issue is that, with these changes, the important achievements of European social policy can withstand the demographic onslaught and continue to provide old age security for generations to come.

Pension reforms in former transition economies aimed to fiscal sustainability and market economy objectives. Estimating the gross and net replacement rates in 9 countries for steady conditions until 2040 show that they are adequate for most categories of workers, with the exception of those with intermittent or no formal sector employment.

Mandatory defined contribution pension markets are present in a growing number of countries around the world. But despite their popularity, policymakers continue to struggle with two key policy concerns. On the one hand, a number of design shortcomings encourages pension firms to charge high administrative fees. On the other hand, the global crisis that started in 2007 has reignited the debate on whether pension participants bear excessive investment risk. Both are valid policy concerns as their incidence can imply higher than expected levels of poverty among old age individuals. Both concerns have the same root problem---the limited capacity of individuals to choose what is best for them. This, in turn, stems from a combination of inadequate financial education, bounded rationality and the use of simplistic 'rules of thumb' that produce systematic biases in the decision making process of individuals. While improving financial education is an obvious avenue to pursue, this book is more concerned with design features that can exploit these systematic biases to protect consumers from themselves. 'New Policies for Mandatory Defined Contribution Pensions: Industrial Organization Models and Investment Products' (i) discusses the main implications for the functioning of mandatory defined contribution pensions of consumers inability to make rational choices; (ii) describes how jurisdictions have tried to address these problems through ad hoc policy interventions; and (iii) proposes new policy directions in the areas of industrial organization models and investment products to address these concerns more effectively. Written for practitioners and researchers around the world, this book provides access to new thinking on mandatory defined contribution pension systems and it makes an important contribution to the on-going policy debate on how to best structure mandatory defined contribution pillars.