The Inverting Pyramid: Pension Systems Facing Demographic Challenges in Europe and Central Asia

Abstract

Some rights reserved 1 2 3 4 17 16 15 14 This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. Note that The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content included in the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of the content contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved.

A call for more elaborate and transparent pension data to inform policy‐making: A critical examination of World Bank data for Eastern Europe

“…However, this short‐term improvement would come at the cost of deterioration in the long‐term fiscal sustainability of the national pension system. This is the case highlighted by the World Bank (Schwarz and Arias, , p. 145).…”

“…In analysing the recent reform reversals in Eastern Europe, a World Bank study (Schwarz and Arias, ) ignores the possibility of pension system dynamics as depicted in Figure 1b. Moreover, an earlier World Bank () study incorrectly asserted that the rates of return of assets, r , of second pillar pensions mostly outperformed GDP growth prior to the global economic and financial crisis (see Table ).…”

“…Poland now prohibits its second pillar funds from investing their assets in Polish government bonds, while Hungary terminated the second pension pillar in 2011. The World Bank, in particular, has criticized these reform reversals as short‐sighted, arguing that they address “the short‐term problem at the cost of significantly worsening the long‐term fiscal situation, reducing the future pensions of individuals, or a combination of both” (Schwarz and Arias, , p. 145). In contrast, Fultz () suggests that the reforms must be viewed in the context of the recent crisis, which has acted as a catalyst to highlight the structural deficiencies of privatized pension systems that had not been resolved prior to the crisis.…”

Convergence or divergence? How the financial crisis affected European pensioners

“…The fact that governments nationalized these schemes without encountering major public resistance disproved one of the supposed advantages of privatization – namely that it suffers from less political risk compared to a pay‐as‐you‐go public system . Schwarz and Arias () argue that the reforms that were carried out were quick fixes focusing on short‐term fiscal sustainability and, aside from those countries that legislated for higher pension ages, the post‐financial crisis reforms are unlikely to result in social goals being met in the long term.…”

Nosocomial coagulase-negative staphylococci in Belgrade: between Scylla and Charybdis

“…Once considered a low-virulence staphylococci, CoNS have become a major healthcare problem, especially in the intensive care unit (ICU) environment and in elderly and immunocompromised patients [3]. Serbia is an upper middle-income country with an inverted population pyramid and large potential target population for CoNS nosocomial infections [4]. National regulations, as well as local guidelines for the prevention of nosocomial infections, are still not fully applied in the healthcare system.…”