Private pensions seem likely to provide the dominant source of income for the majority of retired workers in the future. New private pension instruments developed since 1986, notably personal pensions, have proved popular, but concern as to ‘overselling’ of personal pensions and as to the...

The worldwide stock market crashes of October 1987 were a cause of major public concern at the time, because of the natural fear that they would be followed by economic collapse, as was the case in 1929. The fact that this pattern shows no sign of being repeated is an enormous relief for all of...

At first sight, the technicalities of social securtiy benefit indexation are a somewhat abstruse topic, suitable only for the journals and handbooks of tax and finance practitioners. Yet the nature of benefit indexation systems has major implications both for trends in the living standards of...

This paper examines the asset positions of households at and around retirement in Britain using the Retirement Survey ‘waves’ of 1988-89 and 1994. The data provide the first panel evidence on retirement behaviour and asset evolution for a sample of older households in Britain. The analysis...

The Social Security Act 1986 allowed a wider range of pension schemes to contract out of the state earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS). Individuals now have a good idea of choice concerning their pension strategy, and an evaluation of this strategy involves some complex decision-making by...

<p>Faced with ageing populations, OECD governments are seeking policies to increase individual retirement saving. In April 2001, the UK government introduced Stakeholder Pensions - a low cost retirement saving vehicle. The reform also changed the structure of tax-relieved contribution ceilings,...</p>

<p><p>As private sector employers have moved away from providing final salary defined benefit (DB) pensions to their employees, attention has increasingly focused on the public sector's continued provision of such pensions and the value of these pension promises to public sector employees. The...</p></p>

With increasing globalisation of knowledge, there are increased opportunities to 'learn' from the experience of policy interventions elsewhere. This paper presents evidence on the extent of international convergence in public policy, with particular focus on labour, welfare, savings and...