This study investigates the structural challenges and reform needs of Nepal’s public pension system, with a particular focus on government schoolteachers. Drawing on pensioner data from fiscal year 2011–12 to 2023–24, the study identifies a sharp increase in the number of retirees, with the teaching sector exhibiting the highest average annual growth rate among all public sectors. This trend is closely linked to rising life expectancy, which correlates strongly (R=0.8568) with the growing number of pensioners. The delayed and uneven implementation of the contribution-based Pension Fund Act, 2075, has created legal ambiguity, especially for transitional appointees, and contributed to administrative inefficiencies and inter-agency coordination gaps. The lack of actuarial valuation further impedes evidence-based pension planning. In response, the study proposes a Mixed Pension Scheme that preserves non-contributory benefits for legacy teachers while introducing a contributory model for new entrants. Comparative analysis of SAARC countries, including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Pakistan, supports the feasibility of phased, multi-pillar reforms. The study recommends regular actuarial assessments and designates the Employees Provident Fund as the most capable institution to manage teacher pensions, due to its administrative experience and financial credibility. The findings call for urgent, balanced reform to ensure sustainability, equity, and fiscal resilience.

As China’s population ages and the sustainability of the public pension system is at risk, personal savings become crucial. As such, the quality of financial planning for retirement (FPR) has been recognized as a key to safeguarding financial well-being during retirement. This study examines the relationships of two predictors (future time perspective and risk tolerance) and a mediator (subjective financial literacy) in shaping financial planning for retirement, with particular attention to potential gender differences. Using survey data retrieved from respondents aged between 23 and 60 years old, overall sample and gender-based multigroup analysis were used to examine whether gender moderates these relationships. The results reveal that both future time perspective and subjective financial literacy positively influence financial planning for retirement across all gender groups. Notably, we found no significant gender gap in retirement planning behavior. Subjective financial literacy serves as a significant mediator linking both future time perspective and risk tolerance to retirement planning, though the indirect effect of risk tolerance through financial literacy differs significantly between genders. Academically, theoretical propositions related to retirement planning can be accounted for by both genders. Practically, standardized policy can be tailored to address retirement issues across genders. The study emphasizes that financial planning for retirement in China shows no gender gap, and this provides meaningful guidance to policymakers and financial institutions to develop measures to encourage individuals to take financial actions in retirement planning. Finally, the combined interpretation of a strong effect of subjective financial literacy and an insignificant effect of risk tolerance raises concern that adult income earners in China are affected by financial literacy bias when practicing financial retirement planning.

Public Pensions and the Strategic Timing of Formal Employment

Public pension accelerates the household electrification: Experience from rural China

The Open Method of Coordination for pensions proposes a reform of the entire pension system: public, occupational and private pension schemes. Its three main objectives are to ensure adequate pension benefits and sustainable and modernized pension systems. The achievement of the objectives can be monitored using a set of indicators published by Eurostat, including the risk of poverty rate for the old age, the pension replacement rate, the level of pension expenditure and the gender differences in the indicators. The aim of this article is to construct a measure that will allow to assess the progress of each EU country in achieving the three objectives and to rank countries each year in the period 2011–2023 based on the Eurostat data. The Hellwig measure of economic development, one of the linear ordering methods, is used. The second objective is to group countries according to the obtained values of measure of development for all years and thus indicate which of them are on a stable path towards achieving the objectives of the Open Method of Coordination.

Employee Capital Plans (ECP; in Polish: Pracownicze Plany Kapitałowe — PPK), introduced in Poland in 2019, are a voluntary, long-term savings scheme designed to supplement the public pension system and improve the financial security of the future retirees. The program features automatic enrolment and offers highly favorable conditions for participants, thanks to employer contributions and government subsidies. This article evaluates the performance of savings within the PPK framework from 2020 to 2024, focusing specifically on how the entry date into the program affects investment outcomes. The analysis covers the period from January 1, 2020 to December 2, 2024, and takes into account employee contributions, employer contributions, and state subsidies. The study examines indicators for the individual Target Date Funds (TDF, in Polish: Fundusze Zdefiniowanej Daty — FZD), and averages them for groups of funds with target dates ranging from 2025 to 2060. The study is complemented by a dynamic performance assessment that utilizes a rolling returns methodology. In this analysis, we iteratively calculate the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for investments that begin on consecutive business days, starting from January 1, 2020, while using a fixed 24-month window for each calculation. By employing rolling returns analysis, this method reduces the impact of selecting a single start and end date on the assessment of investment performance.It also provides a more detailed understanding of how the investment start date influences the results.

Abstract Good governance and effective problem solving are important goals for American government, and one branch of political science that focuses on them is research on the politics of public policy. This essay summarizes important insights from that literature and illustrates their relevance to two problems: housing unaffordability and public pension underfunding. With housing unaffordability, problem-solving politics is currently activated, whereas with pension underfunding, it is not. To understand why, it is important to consider the features of the policy, the organization of interests, and the politics of problem creation. In the problem-creation stage, the two cases share much in common: they feature lopsided interest structures buttressed by longstanding institutions. But for the activation of problem-solving politics and what problem solving looks like, there are meaningful differences between the two. One difference relates to how the problems are experienced by the broader public. The other is that in one of the cases, the side with vested interest in the status quo is a well-organized interest group. In both cases, problem-solvers tend to emerge from political offices with broader constituencies: state-level offices for housing, and executives (governors and mayors) for pensions.

Abstract This paper contributes to the literature on augmented wealth (the sum of public pension entitlements and net wealth) along three dimensions. First, it provides new country-specific estimates of augmented wealth for Austria in the year 2017 by combining data from the HFCS (Household Finance and Consumption Survey) and the social security registry. Second, it shows that the main results, which are based on statistical matching, are surprisingly similar to estimates that utilize direct survey responses or information on work history. This finding suggests that international comparisons might be possible even if the results are based on different methodologies. Third, the paper also contrasts the size and distribution of augmented wealth for Austria with comparable estimates for other countries. The household averages of the present value of pension entitlements and of private net wealth turn out to be similar (both amounting to around € 250,000), which is in line with the results for other countries like Switzerland, Germany, and the US. Also, the reduction in the Gini coefficient due to the inclusion of pension entitlements (a decrease from 0.73 to 0.53) is similar for Austria in comparison to other countries.

Abstract We exploit an incremental retirement age reform to investigate the impact of an increase in the legal retirement age on the benefit-claiming age using administrative data from the German public pension insurance. We synthesize findings from several marginal retirement age increases over 10 birth cohorts with a meta-analytic random effects model and find that compliance with marginal treatment is relatively high, but increases if combined with fewer available pathways into retirement. Female retirees retire later in response to a legal retirement age increase than males.

Sometimes democratic societies draft adult citizens to perform a task. Many states draft young adults to the military. From a Rawlsian perspective, conscription is justified only if it is needed for the protection of basic liberties. Military service is a very stressful life event that leaves conscripts disadvantaged for the remainder of their lives. Conscripts must use private resources and time, as well as mental and physical capacity, to produce a public good - national defence. I argue that conscripts are owed, as a matter of justice, earlier access to retirement to compensate for the disadvantage they experience and the free time they lose. Public pension schemes are suitable instruments of distributive justice as they distribute financially supported free time to individuals.

People with HIV (PWH) are unable to get private disability insurance on a regular basis in contrast with individuals with other chronic diseases. We aimed to estimate the risk of public disability pension and work absence due to sickness for PWH compared with the background population in Denmark. Nationwide, population-based, matched cohort study of employed PWH with favorable disease characteristics. A comparison cohort of employed individuals was matched 10:1 to PWH by date of birth and sex from the general population. We computed time to first date of 4 weeks of uninterrupted sick leave, 26 weeks of uninterrupted sick leave, and disability pension being granted. We used Cox regression to obtain hazard ratios (HRs) as a measure of relative risk and competing risk analysis to assess absolute risk. After 6 months of observation, PWH had an increased risk of 4-week sick leave, 26-week sick leave and disability pension compared with the comparison cohort (HR of 1.1 (95% CI: 1.0-1.2), 1.4 (95% CI: 1.1-1.6) and 2.0 (95% CI: 1.5-2.6), respectively). These risks were increased in most patient subgroups. PWH have an increased risk of prolonged sick leave and disability pension, and a slightly increased risk of 4-week sick leave. These risks were within the range of what is described for other chronic diseases. PWH with contemporary cART and favorable disease characteristics should not be generally excluded from access to private disability insurance.

Abstract Scholars increasingly recognize retirement transitions as gradual, complex, and unequal processes that shape inequalities in later-life outcomes, while the patterns of retirement are strongly influenced by welfare state reforms and socioeconomic transformations. Germany presents a unique case where late working lives are highly stratified, yet early retirement trends have dramatically reversed since major reforms in the 1990s, while facing multiple recessions. Against this backdrop, our study examines the dynamics of social stratification in retirement processes and their relationship with pension income following major transformations in Germany after reunification. Using administrative pension insurance records linked with survey data, we combine sequence and cluster analyses with regression models to study the late working lives in Germany across three decades of birth cohorts until 2019. Results demonstrate a gradual shift from early retirement trajectories to the “standard” type of retirement, with persistent disparities by education level. Women’s rising later-life employment has been driven more by flexible/part-time trajectories than standard forms, while some convergence is observed between the East and West. Differences in retirement trajectories significantly explain variations in public pension income, net of socio-demographic characteristics and lifetime work histories.

One of the goals of the operation of public pension systems is to protect its participants from poverty. The progress of civilization has caused expectations of the standard of living in retirement to go beyond the fulfillment of purely existential needs. In determining the minimum requirements for household material security in developed countries, basic needs are taken into account, which reflect both the needs for physical survival and the needs for social participation. The purpose of the study was to assess the subjective satisfaction of the consumption needs of pensioners aged 65 and over, for whom the household'ssocial security old-age pension (paid by the Social Security Administration) is the main source of livelihood against the background of the objective measures of poverty and minimum old-age pension used. An analysis using unpublished unit data from the Household Budget Survey for 2005-2020 for households with one or two retirees indicates that the percentage of households in poverty according to relative and absolute measures of poverty has been decreasing and remains low. However, the differentiation of this condition by household size persists, i.e. the situation of one-person households is significantly worse than that of two-person households. The subjective assessment of the satisfaction of needs for selected goods and authors’ estimates of the value of income considered barely sufficient by pensioner households against the background of the minimum pension and the subsistence minimum show the significant scale of unsatisfied needs. Hence, the study of retirees' subjective perceptions of their material situation is important in the context of the expected further relative decline in pensions and the increase in the percentage of pensioners receiving the minimum and below-minimum benefit, as well as the formation of poverty lines and the minimum old-age pension in the future.

Reforming China’s public pension system: Fiscal sustainability and the challenge of formality-based inequality

As populations age, ensuring the sustainability and fairness of pension systems is increasingly crucial. This paper introduces in a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) the Progressive Defined Musgrave (PDM) system, which combines intergenerational and intragenerational adjustment mechanisms. The system aims at long-term financial stability while promoting fairness by addressing disparities in both longevity and income. Intergenerational fairness is maintained through the Musgrave mechanism, which balances economic risks between workers and retirees. Meanwhile, intragenerational fairness is achieved through a progressive pension benefit formula, offering higher replacement rates for lower-income individuals and lower rates for higher-income individuals. The system adapts to changing demographic and economic conditions by adjusting contribution rates and pension benefits annually. The paper explores the mathematical models underlying this design, including multi-population mortality models that capture longevity inequality. Finally, risk analysis using Value-at-Risk demonstrates the adaptability of the PDM system in ensuring financial sustainability and fairness in the face of evolving demographic dynamics.

Purpose Public pension systems in advanced countries are characterised as being generous, as they present high replacement rates and real rates of return (pension-to-contribution ratios adjusted for differences in purchasing power over time) at values greater than one. They are also considered to be progressive, being slightly more in favour of the lower incomes. In this paper, we evaluate the (in)appropriateness of this last statement in the context of Spain, focusing exclusively on contributory benefits. Design/methodology/approach We use a microdata set of the Spanish population composed of 48.5 million entries, disaggregated at the census section level, and calculate real rates of return on contributions based on salary for four income levels. Findings This study shows the inappropriateness of assuming the progressiveness of Spain's public pension system, which arises from the erroneous assumption of independence between income levels and (residual) life expectancy. The results reveal that contributors with higher incomes receive, on average, relatively higher returns. Research limitations/implications The conclusions are true on average. Deviations within and between groups are expected at the individual level. Practical implications These findings can help to better understand the so-called solidarity quota introduced in the latest legislative reform of the pension system in Spain. Social implications The results could contribute to formulating more equitable public policies that consider sociodemographic disparities. Originality/value This is a previously unrevealed result. While the relationship between income levels and longevity is well established, our research examines how these factors specifically influence the redistributive character of contributory pension benefits in Spain, offering a deeper understanding of how these inequalities manifest within a public pension system. Further research could be conducted in other countries to explore the (in)appropriateness of assuming the progressiveness of their public pension systems.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between institutional ownership and the firm's propensity for frequent acquisitions. Acting as monitors, institutional shareholders impose constraints on managerial discretion, reducing the likelihood of frequent acquisitions. Our finding challenges prior assumptions that institutional ownership invariably facilitates acquisitions. Instead, the analysis suggests that institutional investors prioritize acquisition discipline, curbing managerial tendencies toward an empire‐building strategy that may not align with shareholder value maximization. Institutional ownership, however, has a positive influence on related acquisitions. Banks and insurance companies, namely relational investors, positively influence the acquisition frequency, indicating some support for the career concerns hypothesis. Public pension funds and mutual funds are likely to restrain firms from undertaking frequent acquisitions. We find a positive relation between institutional ownership and firm value, which weakens with an increase in the acquisition frequency but becomes stronger with an increase in the frequency of related acquisitions. Most institutional investors support value‐enhancing acquisitions but oppose the company's propensity to make acquisitions frequently.

Aging has been a social phenomenon unprecedented in history, which poses greater challenges on ensuring the health of the growing old population. We aim to estimate the effects of pension income on the physical and mental health of the elderly and further explore the complementary effects of external community medical environments with external pension income. We develop a Regression Discontinuity Design using an exogenous shock to the income-China's New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS), the world's largest existing pension scheme. We find that public pension policy provides financial support to the elderly but also increases the loss of their perceived controllability. Specifically, empirical results indicate that pension income plays a positive effect on physical health and a negative effect on mental health. The positive effect only exists when communities have better medical environments, while the negative relationship is not affected by the external medical environment. Our findings reveal that internal pension income and external medical environment are therefore complementary factors to achieve better physical health of the elderly, while passive dependence on pension income may reduce mental health by heightening older people's negative perceptions of losing controllability of their lives. Money is not omnipotent in both the physical and mental health of the elderly.

We investigate the effect of population ageing on income inequality in China, with particular attention to the role of public pension systems. We find that the size and distribution of pensions matter in understanding how ageing affects inequality. When using disposable income as the income indicator, the impact of population ageing on income inequality is found to be minimal. However, when pre-pension income is analysed, population ageing exacerbates income inequality, accounting for around 17% of the rise in income inequality from 2002 to 2018. Therefore, the current pension system counterbalances the negative impact of population ageing on income inequality. This is mainly because pensions raise the average income of the elderly and reduce inequality within this group, particularly in urban areas. Nevertheless, due to the substantial disparity in pension benefits between different pension schemes, there exists a significant gap in pension income between urban and rural areas. This gap leads to a more pronounced urban–rural income inequality among the elderly after they receive pensions.

This paper examines the role of cognitive ability in protecting individuals from financial fraud. We analyze fraud that targets retirement savings in the Swedish public pension system, where several fund companies were expelled for misconduct. Some of these firms then faced criminal investigations that led to prison sentences. Investors in these fraudulent funds experienced both direct losses from the failure to recover misappropriated funds and indirect losses due to poor fund performance and high fees. Using administrative data on fund selections in the Swedish pension system, linked with cognitive ability test scores from military enlistment, we find a nearly linear, strongly negative relationship between cognitive ability and the likelihood of investing in these fraudulent firms. Verbal skills, in particular, play a critical role in protecting savers from fraud, and we ensure that our results are not confounded by a general propensity of low-ability individuals to end up in poorer-performing funds.