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25.5.2023

The Pro Gradu Award of the Finnish Centre for Pensions has been granted this year to Master of Business Administration Ozan Yanar. In his master’s thesis, he has examined the 2011 guarantee pension reform. Each year, the Finnish Centre for Pensions grants a Pro Gradu Award to a distinguished master’s thesis.

In his thesis for Aalto University, Yanar examines which population groups the guarantee pension focused on. He also analyses how the reform was reflected in the pension income, key benefits and disposable income of guarantee pension recipients.

The thesis finds that the guarantee pension focuses on the group that it was aimed for: the poorest pensioners. The guarantee pension is a significant addition to the income of its recipients and offers the poorest pensioners a higher income than before.

Guarantee pension also the theme of Yanar’s dissertation

Thanks to working on his master’s thesis, Yanar says he has learned much about doing research in economics and the ins and outs of the Finnish pension system.

“In my future articles for my doctoral dissertation, I will dive deeper into the theme of the guarantee pension. I am part of a research group in which we study the effects of the guarantee pension reform on the health, employment opportunities and retirement of guarantee pension recipients. I am very honoured to receive this award. It means a great deal to a budding researcher such as myself”, Yanar sums up.

Thesis evaluated by Timo Viherkenttä

According to Timo Viherkenttä (LL.D) who evaluated the theses nominated for the 2022 Pro Gradu Award, Yanar’s work is a significant addition to the scarce research on the guarantee pension. Viherkenttä says that what’s particularly awarding about Yanar’s thesis is its review of the guarantee pension as a part of the total income formation of the income earner.

“Yanar’s thesis offers relevant information about how the guarantee pension has affected not only the recipients’ pension income but also their disposable income. The review is made from the point of view of, among other things, different socioeconomic groups and by gender and region. This type of analysis is important when evaluating the social security system and its development”, Viherkenttä explains.

The Pro Gradu Award of the Finnish Centre for Pensions is granted to a distinguished master’s thesis on a topic of interest to pension provision and accepted at a Finnish university in the previous calendar year. The award is 2,000 euros.

Ozan Yanar’s thesis: Guarantee pension reform as an improvement in the income of the poorest pensioners (summary in English)

Finnish Centre for Pensions – Central body of and expert on statutory earnings-related pensions