The German Pension System

Rürup, Bert

doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226241913.003.0007

Cited by 12 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Older workers are in greater demand because fertility was low in subsequent generations and the talents of older workers are needed [6] [28]. Additionally, a decrease in physically demanding jobs and improved educational levels [34] allows many people to work longer [10] [22].…”

Section: Greater Demand For Older Workersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing the Pensionable Age: What Changes Are OECD Countries Making? What Considerations Are Driving Policy?

Axelrad¹,

Mahoney²

2017

JSS

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The average age of retirement used to be low in most countries due to numerous policies introduced 30 to 40 years ago which encouraged lower retirement ages. However, in response to the growth of the older segment of the population, increased life expectancy, the need for skilled workers, and the precarious financial state of public pension systems, pension reforms have been implemented in the U.S. and Europe, and are now geared towards improving employment rates for older workers, increasing retirement ages and pension eligibility. This paper surveys recent changes in retirement age and maps the changes that have occurred in the last decades using data from 34 OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. This paper then reviews the arguments for and against these changes, the criteria for setting a certain retirement age, and the differences in statutory retirement age by gender, occupation, employment status, and other factors unique to particular countries. The purpose of this paper is to analyze current trends in terms of raising the pensionable age.

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Section: Greater Demand For Older Workersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing the Pensionable Age: What Changes Are OECD Countries Making? What Considerations Are Driving Policy?

Axelrad¹,

Mahoney²

2017

JSS

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“…There is no need to repeat the arguments for (and against) a fundamental pension reform. The interested reader is referred to Raffelhüschen (1993), Buslei and Kraus (1996), Börsch‐Supan (1998, 2000, 2002), Wissenschaftlicher Beirat (1998), Sinn (1999) and Rürup (2000) for different perspectives on the pension crisis in Germany and alternative reform proposals. This paper concentrates on an important aspect of pension reform that has gained attention relatively late in the pension reform debate in Germany; namely, the capital market effects of population aging and of a pension reform that involves a shift towards more pre‐funding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pension Reform, Capital Markets and the Rate of Return

Börsch‐Supan¹,

Heiß

Ludwig

et al. 2003

German Economic Review

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This paper discusses the consequences of population aging and a fundamental pension reform -that is, a shift towards more pre-funding -for capital markets in Germany. We use a stylized overlapping generations model to predict rates of return over a long horizon, taking demographic projections as given. Our simulations show that a transition to a partially funded system crowds out existing savings only partially. The capital stock increases initially, but decreases when the baby boom generations enter retirement. The corresponding decrease in the rate of return, which results from both population aging and pre-funded pensions, is only modest, less than one percentage point in the closed-economy, fixed-technology case. The return on capital can be improved by international diversification, that is, by investing pension funds in countries with a more favorable demographic transition path. Feedback effects from strengthened capital markets and improved corporate governance, which are unlikely to be achieved with capital market reforms alone, will raise capital performance further.

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