Aging Population, Pension Funds, and Financial Markets: Regional Perspectives and Global Challenges for Central, Eastern and Southern Europe (Directions in Development)

Population aging is expected to affect the performance of financial markets in developed and emerging economies at a time when ever more countries are relying on funded provisions for old age income support. This study investigates the challenges faced by these former transition countries in the context of international experience from the OECD and Latin America. The overarching conclusion of this study is that these challenges can be addressed but addressing them will require determined policy actions to complete financial market development and to promote financial literacy through education. Population aging is a worldwide phenomenon, but it is particularly advanced in highly developed northern countries. The retirement of the baby-boom generation in these rich countries will impose additional, albeit temporary, pressure on their pension systems. To cope with this pressure, reforms have been introduced that have lessened the generosity of publicly provided pension benefits. By design and by implication, this change increases the importance of mandatory and voluntary funded retirement schemes in smoothing consumption across the life cycle. The first three chapters of this book investigate questions germane to pension systems in the Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe (CESE) economies: the extent to which pension systems were prepared to deal with multi pillar pension reform, how to foster the development of financial systems so that they can better support funded systems, and how ready the systems are for the approaching payout of benefits as the first participants in the funded pillar approach retirement age. The remaining three chapters investigate broader questions facing pension systems in both developed and emerging countries: the capacity of the financial markets to deliver sufficiently high net rates of return, the benefits and disadvantages of investment in emerging markets, and the effect of aging on the rates of return afforded by funded and unfunded schemes Introduction, main messages, and policy conclusions / Robert Holzmann -- Were financial systems in CESE countries prepared for the challenges of multipillar pension reform? / Robert Holzmann, Csaba Feher, and Hermann von Gersdorff -- How can the financial markets be developed to better support funded systems? / Ricardo N. Bebczuk and Alberto R. Musalem -- Population aging and the payout of benefits / Heinz Rudolph and Roberto Rocha -- Can the financial markets generate sustained returns on a large scale? / Ricardo N. Bebczuk and Alberto R. Musalem -- Does investing in emerging markets help? / Ricardo N. Bebczuk and Alberto R. Musalem -- Will population aging impact rates of return? / Robert Holzmann Introduction, main messages, and policy conclusions Multi-pillar pension reform in CESE countries : were the financial systems prepared for the challenges? How can the financial markets be developed to better support funded systems? Population aging and the payout of benefits : issues and options Can the financial markets generate sustained returns on a large scale? Does investing in emerging markets help? Will population aging impact rates of return? Population aging will affect the performance of pension funds and financial markets in the former transition economies and require determined policy actions to complete financial market development and to promote financial literacy through education.