Welfare Regimes for Aging Populations: No Single Path for Reform

Abstract

We consider recent trends in pension policies in OECD countries in light of demographic aging associated with welfare regime type (Liberal, Social Democratic, Continental, and Southern European). These regime types represent different responsibilities assumed for social security on the part of the market, the state, and the family. While there are significant differences in labor market characteristics, the demographic similarities in aging bring similar pressures for pension reforms across OECD countries. These reforms address fiscal issues in state pensions, typically by increasing the length of the working life, placing more of the pension responsibility on individuals, or converting to defined-contribution approaches. Our study shows that there is no single path for pension reform. While there are some variations, welfare states tend to follow their traditional paths, which differ across welfare regime types. Copyright (c) 2009 The Population Council, Inc..

AgroEcological Transitions : changes and breakthroughs in the making

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Facing the Gender Gap in Aging: Italian Women’s Pension in the European Context

“…In the welfare states of the Social Democratic regime, the state plays a larger role than the market and the family in meeting the social needs of citizens. While all of the these actors play a moderate role in the management of social risks in the Continental European group, the family remains the key actor in the Southern European group [34].…”

“…It is argued by Aysan and Beaujot [34] that this conflict can lead to a change in the perception of aging from being a public/life-course issue to being a private/life-stage problem. Even though aging becomes a private problem for an individual with a private pension plan, it also becomes a social and political problem when dealing, for example, with the need for pension reform.…”

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“…The recalibration dimension has been more central to the pension reforms of the Southern European welfare states; cost containment and recommodification can be considered as moderate determinants in the recent pension reforms (Aysan and Beaujot 2009). A detailed analysis of the 2006 reform shows that although all of these three reform dimensions can be seen in the recent reform, the recalibration is the most important dimension of the Turkish social security reform.…”

“…To guide the cluster analysis, there are two arguments. First, even though OECD countries face similar demographic and economic challenges, different countries have developed varying pension and employment systems following their institutional paths (Aysan and Beaujot 2009;Esping-Andersen 1999;Pierson 2001;Tepe and Vanhuysse 2009). Second, Turkey is placed with Southern European countries with regard to its pension regime.…”