Väänänen Niko
Do we need special pension provisions for hazardous or arduous jobs?
In Europe, retirement ages keep rising. Yet, in many European countries, some people can retire earlier than others. They are granted a special pension based on their hard jobs. Is this type of benefit needed?
Three things to remember when comparing European pension systems
Citizens, journalists and experts enjoy making comparisons which put their national pension systems into a wider context. It is common to compare retirement ages between countries. Although such an exercise can be informative, a simple comparison can result in misunderstandings. Here are three tips to avoid common mistakes.
The perfect European pension system?
Pension systems are not easy to comprehend. In Europe several different pension designs coexist. A short story might shed some light on why people take pride in the pension system of their country.
Should parenthood be credited in pensions?
Pensions are intergenerational contracts. In recent decades, many European countries have witnessed low fertility rates, which has put pressure on that contract. Although many assume that they have paid their own pension, this is not the case. When we pay pension contributions, we mostly pay the pensions of the previous generation. Only on a minor …
The size of pension funds in different countries
We recently updated our comparative data representing the size of pension funds in different countries in relation to the country’s GDP. We included funds of both statutory (1st pillar) and occupational (2nd pillar) pension schemes. As a reader’s guide we would like to briefly explain some of the different funding mechanisms. 1. Liquidity funds Every …
Footing the Pension Bill – Do Beveridgean and Bismarckian Countries Differ?
It is said that one of the core values of Europe is diversity. This certainly holds true when looking at pension systems. There is such a diversity of actors, financing mechanisms as well as public-private mixes that it is easy to conclude that Europe embraces diversity as much in its pension systems as in its …
Could Working Lives Be Extended By Working Less?
At first glance, the thought of extending working lives by doing less work seems counter-intuitive: how can something be extended by reducing it? However, when analyzing working lives we need to scrap intuition. The lengths of working lives are not predetermined; people constantly make choices that will have an impact on the total length of …
