An Ideal Pension System

As the year draws to a close and Washington remains stalemated, it is interesting to think about what an 'ideal' pension system would look like.  In a sense this post is an unabashed commercial for a book I co-edited with my colleague, John A. Turner, Pension Policy Center.  The book, Imagining the Ideal Pension System: International Perspectives, was published recently by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. 

In the book, ten country experts discuss their views of the ideal pension system for their country.  The chapters are an outgrowth of a conference that John and I led in Washington D.C. in 2010 on the topic for the European Network for Research on Supplementary Pensions.  The U.S. and Japan are included, in part for contrast.  The rest of the chapters are written by experts from Europe about the pension systems of their home countries.

As always when working with this group of scholars, I was impressed at the conference and when editing chapters with the depth and breadth of their vision.  The viewpoints reminded me that 'ideal' systems of any kind are dependent upon the perspective of their creator.  I believe that all the scholars who contributed to the book would agree that their viewpoints are influenced by the values and culture of their home countries.

Still, pension systems typically share a set of 'ideal' goals.  Risks should be shared in a 'fair' and efficient way.  Benefits must be adequate.  And, increased longevity brings challenges as well as opportunities.

John and I currently are working on a paper entitled, "The Market for Financial Advisers" for a conference to be sponsored in May by the Pension Research Council at Wharton.  So, as we move into the new year, you can expect to see more here about financial advisers and fiduciary issues.