Banking on Death or Investing in Life: The History and Future of Pensions

Abstract

The onset of globalization and the ageing of populations have encouraged efforts to privatize the funding of retirement funds, putting at risk the public provision of pensions in many countries and giving pension and insurance funds great financial power. In Banking on Death Robin Blackburn shows that the private funds enjoy vital public subsidy, in the shape of major tax breaks, yet typically these funds fail to give their policy-holders a say. The author argues that tax concessions should be confined to those funds which adhere to socially-committed and sutainable investment programmes. Rival pension proposals are being debated today in many countries with major implications for the distribution of economic power. Robin Blackburn offers a lucid survey of the debates on the future of social security in the United States; the plans for stakeholder pensions in Britain and the experience of social funds in Sweden, Chile and Singapore.