A right to early retirement for conscripts

This descriptive piece discusses the multidimensional aspects of the prevailing pension system in Bangladesh and provides a visionary roadmap for designing a pension system in comparison to international policy views. In Bangladesh, some two million government employees are entitled to draw retirement pensions and so are the employees of the formal private sector. However, the large chunk of the workforce employed in the informal sector are out of the pension scheme. Within the limit of laws, rules and regulations, this chapter identifies the details of government pension schemes, key differences between the public pension schemes, and private pension plans. The public pension program follows the traditional unfunded pay-as-you-go system where the payment is made from budgetary revenue. In contrast, the private pension schemes are either defined-benefit plans or defined-contribution plans where the contributed amount is invested to generate pension payments in the future. The financial sector (e.g., private commercial banks operating in Bangladesh) is no exception from the above-mentioned corporate pension schemes. The study notes that there is a direct correlation between the tenure of service and the size (as a percentage) of pension benefit. This case is found to be true in both public and corporate pension schemes. This chapter also explores the regulatory framework of the pension system in Bangladesh and finds that the absence of one single comprehensive legal guideline for the pension system has made it complex to manage pension funds. There is more wriggle room to make the existing system more flexible and more pro-employee.

This chapter monitors the different pillars of old-age pension schemes and discusses coherence and coordination, primarily between public schemes and occupational pension schemes, with the example of the reformed Swedish model. The chapter also takes into account both labour and tax-related consequences. While the public pension scheme in Sweden was already subject to significant reforms 20 years ago, many occupational schemes with contravening effects that are still in place are not yet altogether replaced by modern, sustainable schemes.

Unsustainable defined-benefit public pension scheme, rising life expectancy, and high level of unemployment endanger the socioeconomic and political stability of Uganda’s economy. This research approaches the problem from labor supply point of view by: (i) analyzing the effect of the public service pension scheme on timing of retirement; (ii) investigating the required early retirement incentives that would increase employment in the public service; and (iii) determining the predictors of postretirement employment in the public service in Uganda. Using a cross sectional secondary dataset of the retired public servants from the Uganda’s Pension Department of the Ministry of Public Service (2016), this study finds the model fitting the observed aggregate retirement behavior very well. Results reveal: first, that the retirement conditions in the public service’s pension scheme in terms of the: mandatory retirement age (MRA), early retirement age (ERA), minimum tenure (MT), and pension benefits; significantly influence timing of retirement. This implies that the public service pension scheme in Uganda can be used as a fiscal tool for addressing labor supply challenges in the country.Second, about 20 percent increment in the monthly pension benefits, and 10-year increment in ERA jointly with a 5-year increment in MRA raises the likelihood of new jobs pace by up to 12.2 percent and 30 percent respectively, through early retirement.This implies that these early retirement incentives can be used to achieve intra-generational equity where some previously employed public servants retire early and survive on pension benefits as few unemployed people join public service to earn a wage.Third, among other predictors, postretirement employment in the public service is explained by:entry age, tenure, and salary. These factors can be used by the government to achieve a sustainable pension scheme through oldage employment (increased labor supply) which reduces the years taken to claim pension benefits.

Military conscription is a mechanism designed to develop troops and their capabilities, which are the foundation for creating military strength, and it is inextricably related to military manpower structure, military management system, and military structure. Accordingly, we cannot ignore the implications of military service policies for successful military reform and the transformation of military strength. Since 2006, Korea has been pursuing national defense reforms with a view to shifting from a troop-focused quantitative military structure to a technology-intensive military structure and has thus been carrying out a series of military service reform plans. However, a rapid shift in policy direction and reasonable modifications and adjustments of the implementation plan are constantly needed since the geostrategic and economic environment surrounding Korea, its demographic and social environment, military technology development, and global trends in transforming the military service system, continue to raise new issues related to Korean military service policy. Modifications of the current military service system that would allow for the increasing social demand for a change to all-voluntary service, a review of a differentiated military service system designed to meet the need for the adjustment of the term of military service for conscripts, the proposal of a reasonable policy in response to the demands for mandatory military service for women, and the creation of a plan to incorporate religiously motivated conscientious objectors into the community service system will be an important part of the military service policy agenda that national defense policymakers should keep in mind.

This study focuses on identifying the fiscal consequences of the current public pension scheme of the civil servants in the Republic of Cyprus and the mechanisms of governing the benefits offered to its members. The article explores the implications of the economic impacts of the scheme on the budget expenditures. The projections presented point out the fiscal positions of the scheme under the current arrangements, up to the year 2070. The sustainable fiscal stance and projected liabilities are also presented. The empirical evidence reveals that the public pension scheme in Cyprus can generate undesirable and widely distributed economic impacts. The results suggest that the public pension scheme, if it continues to function on the basis of the existing mechanisms of governance, will affect the whole of the economy in a negative way. The article concludes that effective institutional intervention with successful reforms of the Scheme will benefit the budgetary balance of the Republic of Cyprus. The policy implications are underlined and suggestions are given for the development of the public pension scheme in Cyprus. Finally, it concludes and gives some implications for further research.

The gap between the American people and the United States military is growing, with implications for the preservation of democratic institutions. The gap has contributed to the erosion of democratic norms by negatively affecting perceptions of citizenship obligations and weakening the attachment to national institutions. Ironically, a feature of the gap is the rise of a “warrior caste” of men and women who self-select to join the all-volunteer force (AVF), leaving the remaining 99.5% of citizens to think that national defense is a concern for “other people.” With only 1 in 200 Americans directly involved in military service, the wars that the AVF serves in do not directly affect most Americans or their elected representatives. This indifference has led to perpetual wars with poor oversight, eroding the democratic norm of citizen oversight of and participation in the nation’s wars. The civil–military gap can be mitigated with a comprehensive expansion of programs that offer opportunities for military and national service, the adoption of more robust civic education in civilian and military education systems, and fostering a culture of defense among the citizenry.

Compulsory Military Service has become the focal point of debate in the latest National Resource Empowerment Law (PSDN). Some argue that national defence, which forms the basis of compulsory military service, should not be confined solely to military contexts. However, on the other hand, many believe that a military approach is integral to national defence. The author employs a legal and national defence analysis to comprehend the conception of compulsory military service. The findings of the author's research indicate that mandatory military service is a mandate of the law and not voluntary, leaning towards a militaristic approach. Furthermore, the author asserts that all non-militaristic forms of national defense are valid, but a militaristic approach remains obligatory.

Since the unification of the two German states, the system of mandatory pension insurance in Germany, based since 1957 on a pay-as-you-go scheme, has been under constant financial pressure. By 1997, to balance current pension claims of retirees with current revenue from workers, the contribution to the Public Pension Scheme had increased to 20:3 per cent of the payroll, split equally between employees and employers. Since then, a further increase in contribution rates has been avoided only by substantial extra subsidies to the pension system. In fact, the recent increment in federal subsidies, mostly financed through new taxes on the consumption of energy and mineral oil, has been large enough to moderately reduce the payroll contribution to the Public Pension Scheme, to the current rate of 19:1 per cent. In 2000, the government subsidy to balance the pension insurance budget was expected to reach A49:4 billion. This was the largest expenditure item in the government budget, totalling 20.2 per cent of all spending. The federal pension subsidy, which is usually justified as compensating for redistributive elements that counteract the strong tax-benefit linkage characteristic of the German system of state pensions, like credits for child rearing or education and a raising of low contributions to a minimum level, now covers more than 27 per cent of the pension benefits. Translating the fiscal burden related to this pension subsidy into a hypothetical contribution rate, the actual burden on labour through public pensions would be as high as 25:2 per cent of the payroll. Thus, the Public Pension Scheme is already imposing a high financial burden on contributors and taxpayers. During the first half of the new century, as German society, goes through a demographic transition to higher old-age dependency, the financial pressure on government budgets will become even more severe. The long-established fact that the current public pension scheme might be unsustainable, with a diminished ratio of contributors to economically inactive transfer recipients, has produced numerous reform proposals aimed at improving the long-term viability of the German Public Pension system, ranging from a taxfinanced minimum pension to advanced funding schemes. Nevertheless German governments for a long time have introduced only tentative measures stabilizing the pay-as-you-go system. The 1992 Pension Reform Act will raise the mandatory retirement age for all workers to 65 between 2001 and 2005, and has reduced hitherto strong incentives for early retirement, but the discount in pensions for premature withdrawal from the labour force is still not actuarially fair. The former Kohl administration

Quadagno J, Pederson J. Has support for Social Security declined? Attitudes toward the public pension scheme in the USA, 2000 and 2010Given rising public budgets and population aging, many nations have made significant changes to their public pensions. Between 2000 and 2010, the USA experienced an economic crisis as deep as the Great Depression of the 1930s. Yet despite charges that Social Security, the public pension benefit, was responsible for the federal deficit, no reforms were enacted during this period. This study used the General Social Survey for 2000 and 2010 to determine whether public support for Social Security has declined and whether attitudes have changed among some groups more than others. Between 2000 and 2010, attitudes have shifted somewhat toward the view that too much is being spent on Social Security. The shift is greatest among the young and those who believe in less government. Despite this shift, the vast majority of citizens still believe that the government is spending too little or just the right amount.

The article discusses the factors that ensure the appropriate level. It was determined that physical capacity is the maximum mechanical work that a person is able to perform. Assessment of a person's physical capacity is necessary for solving a wide range of practical problems: determining the state of health, the results of sports training, and others.
 It has been proven that physical performance depends on many factors: body composition and anthropometric indicators, muscle strength and endurance, the state of the musculoskeletal system, functional and endocrine systems. Factors such as energy potential, completeness of its use and cost-effectiveness of movements are also important. It has been established that work capacity is ensured by both aerobic and anaerobic processes of energy generation, and according to the preference of one of them, aerobic physical work capacity, anaerobic and mixed are distinguished.
 Despite the fact that the indicators of physical development of student youth show positive dynamics, the general state of health of modern youth is deteriorating, which negatively affects their physical and mental capacity. The most acute social problem in Ukraine is the deterioration of the health of children and youth. Negative factors that reduce the level of health are improper nutrition, hypokinesia, psycho-emotional overstrain, and bad habits.
 Effective means of improving not only physical, but also emotional health of a person include aqua fitness. Nowadays, there is no doubt about the possibility of a positive effect of physical exercises in water on the state of physical and mental health, improving the activity of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and hormonal systems and developing the physical qualities of a person.

The government of Guinea Bissau is considering implementing the pension fund included in the 2015 Budget Law. It requested a technical assistance from the World Bank to conduct an initial diagnostic of the pension system with a focus on the public service pension scheme. The objective of this note is an initial step to respond to this request. The analysis shows that it is not recommendable for Guinea Bissau to set up a pension fund for the public service pension scheme at this stage. Although the 2015 Budget Law envisages to create a pension fund, its financing (6 percent of payroll) would not be enough to pay existing pensions. Importantly, creating a pension fund in a weak governance environment is extremely risky while the establishment of a strong regulatory framework would be a prior condition for the implementation of such a pension fund. As such, establishing a pension fund for the public service employees would bring significant administrative and fiscal challenges and therefore is not in the interest of the pensioners. However, some measures could be taken immediately to improve the public services pension schemes. These measures include to review and update the list of current beneficiaries including “proof of life,” systematically make pension payments through the banking system and introduce some administrative reforms. Changes to the parameters of the current public pension could be also be adopted to provide more equitable pension benefits. The government may also want to consider developing a model like World Bank’s PROST toolkit to: (i) assess the fiscal costs of the current scheme, and (ii) evaluate different pension reform options. The World Bank’s pension reform options simulation toolkit, PROST, models pension contributions, entitlements, system revenues and system expenditures over a long period. It is designed to help policy-making make informed policy decisions and is currently used in 46 countries. The World Bank could provide technical assistance to develop such a model although the ability to develop this model will depend on the availability of sufficient data. As a conclusion, the Government of Guinea Bissau is advised to maintain the current institutional structure of the public service pension scheme, introduce administrative reforms and develop and introduce a coherent reform package on the basis of a model like PROST to introduce parametric reforms to improve fiscal sustainability and equity.

Military service system is the basic system of armed forces, an important part of a country’s military system and a key content in national defense. The legal system of military service refers to the general term of the legal norms governing various social relations arising from military service in the country. At present, China has formed an increasingly complete legal system on military service, which is guided by the Constitution, based on the National Defense Law, backboned by the basic law of military service, supported by the special law of military service and supplemented by local laws and regulations.

Maintaining adequate pension levels throughout the entire retirement phase is a persistent challenge in old-age protection. Most public pension schemes in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries provide for some form of indexation for pensions in payment. These mechanisms have been object of frequent revisions for different purposes, in particular across Europe. This article explores the social and financial policy objectives linked to standard indexation parameters in public pension schemes, and offers a rough taxonomy of additional factors used to modify traditional indexation arrangements, with a special focus on changing rules and practices adopted in the European Union (EU) area after the 2008 international economic and financial crisis. Analysis suggests that early responses were mainly driven by cost containment ideas, whereas more recently, a subtle shift towards adequacy-oriented interventions can be noticed. The article argues that restrictive pension indexation rules in combination with overall retrenchment of public pension provision fail to take into account the increasing duration of retirement and corresponding pension erosion. Such failure calls into question not only income security during retirement as a major objective of old-age pensions but also compliance with international standards of social security set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Council of Europe. More social policy research is needed in view of the increasing complexities of indexation rules, as shortfalls in indexation can cause significant impairment in the living conditions of older pensioners, predominantly women.

Public Pensions: To What Extent Do They Account for Swedish Wealth Inequality?

The public pension scheme in Korea, especially the civil service pension launched in 1960 and the military pension launched in 1961, are facing serious financial problems, though the degree of problems is less serious in the pase of the private school teachers pension and the national pension system introduced much later. However, even these pension schemes are destined to face similar financial problems because of the inherent characteristics of low contribution, high pension. The Korean pension is at a crossroad. Without reforms the spending on the public pension scheme would rise to more than 10% of GDP by 2030. The pension system has to move toward a system less dependent on the state and on high payroll taxes of the future generations and a stronger private pension system. A systemic reform to pursue is a shift to a system that is partially defined contribution, funded and privately managed, rather than fully defined benefit, pay-as-you-go and publicly managed.