Many countries with generous social insurance are currently forced to cut back or modify their systems. At the same time many developing countries lack social insurance for large segments of the population. Health accounts may offer a way of implementing health insurance that keeps a lid on...

One of the oldest and most contentious debates in welfare economics and social security provision revolves around means testing. This paper reviews the history and issues in the debate about means tested welfare benefits, with particular emphasis on UK experience

In this paper, we have looked at the choice of performance targets using a unique panel database on UK CEO executive option performance targets. Using this data on performance targets along with governance data and financial data for company accounts with year ends from 2001 to 2003, we find...

Using accounting data from just over 100 Italian companies we construct various measures of exposure to severance pay. We then examine how these measures are related to subsequent market measures of risk. We find little relationship between corporate Italian severance pay exposure and either...

The large declines in equity markets observed in the United Kingdom and the United States in 2001-2002 had a significant impact on the retirement funds of many individuals approaching retirement. This decline in markets and savings offers a natural experiment from which we examine how...

This paper analyses income drawdown programs where individuals choose a starting level of income and consumption growth levels so that they are certain to run out of money at some age. We compare the consumption in such a drawdown program with the level of consumption from an annuity. Our...

This paper explores portfolio allocation when individuals target the mean and variance of consumption growth. These consumption targets lead to an optimal mix of equity which depends on the equity risk premium, the rate of return on riskless bonds, the desired rate of escalation of consumption...

Private pension laws in Australia concentrate considerable power and discretion in trustees. This paper reviews results from a detailed survey in 2004 of super trustees at the top 200 funds in Australia as well as an earlier pilot survey. The survey results indicate that super trustees emphasise...

A major change in the training of actuaries in the period since the 1990s has been the introduction of the concepts underlying financial economics into the mainstream of actuarial coursework. Yet in this same period, three parallel developments have taken place - changes in the traditional role...

A special feature of UK executive pay is the heavy reliance on performance conditions for executive share options. Using data compiled from 2002-2003 Remuneration Committee reports of 130 of Britain's largest companies as well as linked data on analyst earnings forecasts and realised earnings,...