Sources of support for pension reformA cross-national perspective

Sources of support for pension reform

A cross-national perspective

Dion

Michelle

Dion, Michelle

Author

Roberts

Andrew

Roberts, Andrew

Author

text

working paper

Chestnut Hill, Mass. Center for Retirement Research at Boston College20092009monographic

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

2009

monographic

Englisheng

English

eng

electronicapplication/pdfborn digital

electronic

application/pdf

born digital

Many accounts of pension politics assign primary importance to societal forces. In the well-known formulation, pensions are the third rail of politics: politicians cannot cut benefits without suffering electoral retribution. In addition, some see the preferences of business as a key determinant of pension policy. This study takes aim at this problem by exploring what factors lead citizens and firms to support public pension systems and various reform efforts. To answer these questions, we analyze a survey of individuals and firms in 20 countries from five continents regarding attitudes toward pensions conducted by the Oxford Institute of Aging and the HSBC Bank. We examine separately variation in individual and then firm preferences regarding the role of government in pension provision and pension reform options. Then, we compare the preferences of firms to those of individuals to identify the potential space available for policy reform. The main results from the analyses are three. First, there are large cross-national differences in preferences of both individuals and firms. Second, these cross-national differences are not well explained by conventional theories. Third, there is some but not overwhelming support for micro-level theories about the reasons for differences between firms and individuals.

Michelle Dion and Andrew Roberts.

CRR WP2008-23

CRR WP

2008-23

http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Working_Papers/wp_2008-23.pdf

MChBEnglisheng

MChB

Englisheng

English

eng