Documents Williamson, John B. 5 results

"Since 1981 close to forty countries have introduced systemic pension reforms that have replaced all or part of prior pay-as-you-go (PAYG) schemes with privately managed funded defined contribution (FDC) pillars or systems. However, over the past decade about half of these countries have subsequently cutback on, or entirely eliminated, these FDC schemes. In this article we explore some of the reasons why this reversal is often taking place in developing countries. As part of our analysis we propose a new pension reform typology that goes beyond the commonly used dichotomy between PAYG and pension privatization. We identify and discuss four factors that are of particular relevance to those seeking to understand the pension policy reversals that have been taking place in many developing countries: low pension coverage and incentive incompatibility, triple burden costs, tradeoffs between pension reforms and social pensions, and difficulties with annuitization."

"In recent years, researchers have given much attention to union density decline in industrialized countries. While several have asked whether this decline can be attributed to specifi c economic, social, or institutional causes, few have provided concrete suggestions about how cross-national studies in this genre can inform efforts that seek to reverse this decline in the United States. This study uses cross-sectional time-series analysis of a pooled sample of 18 OECD countries from 1980 to 2005 to consider the effect of the business cycle, domestic institutions, globalization, and strike activity of union density. We identify interaction with the variable 'Traditional Union Density' and utilize fi ndings on corporatism, collective bargaining, globalization, and infl ation to make suggestions for those working to reverse union decline in the US. "

"As some of the limitations of the traditional pay-as-you-go defined benefit public pension model have become more evident in recent years, pension experts have begun searching for alternative models. The notional defined contribution model, also financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, has emerged as one of the major new approaches. Drawing on evidence from schemes in six countries (Sweden, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Kyrgystan and Mongolia), this article aims to describe the notional defined contribution model and to review its strengths and limitations relative to the major alternatives, the pay-as-you-go defined benefit model and the funded defined contribution model. A four-pillar pension model is proposed."

"The need for old-age security coverage in rural areas of many developing countries is rapidly increasing for several reasons, including population ageing and the weakening of family support networks. These trends have generated intense interest in policies that might help respond to the growing problem of rural old-age destitution. The focus of our analysis is on one of the most promising alternatives under consideration: universal non-contributory old-age pensions. This model has some limitations and it is not appropriate for all developing countries, but it would be of potential benefit to far more than the six that have already implemented variants of this approach."