Complementary retirement pensions: Towards a definition of terms

One of the main difficulties in carrying out an international comparison of retirement systems is the task of establishing clear common terminology. Like other social institutions, welfare systems differ from country to country; confusion can arise when a given word is applied to different institutional structures because such usage can mask important differences. On the basis of a comparison of complementary pension plans in the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, this paper discusses and clarifies the meanings of some key terms. The distinction between "private" and "public" retirement plans, commonly used by Americans, can be erroneously applied to other systems, particularly that of France, where complementary retirement plans resemble American "private" plans in some respects and "public" plans in others. The terms "occupational" and "supplementary", often used in Europe, can be used interchangeably; however, each one stresses different aspects of complementary plans. The terms "funding" and "pay-as-you-go" and their equivalents in French (répartition and capitalisation) have somewhat different meanings and quite different connotations. Finally, the author discusses the concept of "social insurance", as applied to both social security and complementary pension plans, to end with some reflections on the definition of what constitutes a retirement plan.     

Designing a social security pension system

Abstract   This paper looks at potential models of social security pension systems. It refers often to the systems that exist in the United States and Canada (the latter more particularly) to outline the issues involved in attempting to design a "good" social security pension system. Of course, one of the issues is the definition of "good". This paper will use criteria such as poverty alleviation, retirement income adequacy, benefit/contribution sustainability, income equality and wealth distribution. In the course of the discussion, the reader will be exposed to many issues that need to be addressed in the establishment of any social security pension system in the world. This may prove to be helpful in countries where new systems are established (and even for evolving systems). It is also hoped that future students of social security will find this paper helpful in that it is meant to lay out some basic principles consistent with good social security pension design.     

Privatization, provision, and targeting: Trends and policy implications for social security in the United States

This paper examines several important trends in the changing structure of social security in the United States and their impact on the elderly in different income groups. These trends involve the shifting public/private mix of retirement income, the declining replacement rates of public benefits, and reforms for targeting benefits by age. An analysis of these trends suggests that (a) social security will provide declining economic support for those most in need; (b) middle- and upper-income groups will have a diminished stake in social security, reducing the programme's political base of support; (c) increasing reliance on occupational pensions will heighten the need for greater public regulation of private schemes; (d) an unplanned two-tiered system of pensions will emerge, with the first tier consisting of a whittled-down version of social security to provide a predominant source of retirement income for low-income wage earners and the second tier consisting of private pensions for middle- and upper-income groups.     

美国族群问题及其破解对策

美国是一个多族群的国家,族群之间的矛盾和斗争充斥着整个美国历史发展过程。"二战"之后,特别是20世纪80年代以来,由于白人至上主义和极右思潮的抬头,美国族群关系更趋于紧张。然而,在前苏联、南斯拉夫这些多族群国家解体的后冷战时代,美国却能够保持相对稳定的族群关系。这主要得益于其不断完善的法律制度、多元与一体的相对平衡,以及不断改进的社会保障制度等因素。由于美国族群政策是建立在资本主义私有制基础之上的,具有不可避免的局限性,因而对美国的族群政策应重于研究、分析,慎于借鉴。     

人口老龄化与养老保障政策应对研究——基于多元社会政策建构视野

人口老龄化趋势是我国人口结构转变的一个突出现象。人口老龄化问题的突现,势必对养老保障压力提出了新的挑战,同时也会影响国家对养老政策的调整。本文基于＂人口年龄结构—国民经济因素—社会因素—养老政策＂综合分析模型,提出了养老保障政策分析的框架。本文以人口结构转变为切入点,描述了人口老龄化趋势,以及由此引发的国家系统养老保障以及公民社会养老保障挑战。为应对这些挑战,本文基于综合分析模型和现代国家治理结构特点,提出了相应的应对策略。本文认为,只有整体性福利制度构建,才能确保在国民经济发展、人口老龄化趋势与社会稳定之间取得动态平衡。     

Implications for social security policy-making of research in mortality

"The main purpose of this article is to outline the relationship between mortality research and policy-making in social security. Reasons are first discussed as to why more information is needed for social security purposes on how and why mortality varies over time periods and across population groups. There follows a synopsis of the correspondence between the type of policy question asked and the kind of research required to answer it. The paper concludes with a discussion of the incorporation of mortality research into policy models." The geographic focus is on the United States.     

Individual accounts in social security: can they be progressive?

The trend toward individual asset accounts in social security, and the regressivity of these accounts, provide the motivation for this article. The article asks: why not asset building for the poor as well? Research on Individual Development Accounts in the United States finds that the poor can save when they have a structure and incentive to do so. Steps toward universal and progressive asset‐based policy are pointed out in Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom. Future policy directions and challenges are considered.     

Varieties of liberalism: A comparative analysis of family policy and poverty outcomes across the 50 United States

The United States is generally recognised as an exemplar of liberal policy regime types. However, given evidence of state-level divergence in social policy, this article investigates to what extent such variation is present and relevant in state-level family policy. To this end, we pose a primary and secondary research question. Our primary question is whether varieties of liberalism exist across the 50 states in the United States. Our secondary question is whether these varieties of liberalism correspond to variety in social indicators of families' economic well-being. To answer our primary question, we first construct a family policy index that scores the relative generosity and coverage of state-administered social programmes that contribute to the (de)commodification and (de)familialisation of households with children. We then perform a cluster analysis to group states by shared decommodifying and defamilialising features. To answer our secondary question, we investigate how our family-policy clusters are associated with social indicators of families' financial security. Our findings suggest that varieties of liberalism do, indeed, exist within the United States. With the exception of Vermont, which stands out with respect to its comparatively generous family policies, we classify states into two groups: those with ‘soft’ liberal family policy in states featuring relatively generous and accessible policies and ‘hard’ liberal family policy in states achieving little of either. We find that these differences help explain state-level heterogeneity in levels of economic security among households with children, particularly single-mother households.     

拜登政府的东北亚政策与东北亚地区关系走向

美国总统拜登上任以来,其对外战略正逐渐成形。拜登政府表示将以同盟关系为基础重建美国的领导力,在东北亚地区继续推进印太战略的实施。美国东北亚政策的调整与变化,被普遍认为战略指向明显,拜登政府将中国视为美国最严峻的竞争对手,将继续利用台湾问题对华进行战略牵制,中美关系仍处于其东北亚政策调整的核心。拜登政府将巩固与日本的盟友关系,这一倾向也得到了菅义伟政权的积极回应。朝鲜半岛问题的走向尚未明朗,缺乏沟通和协作的氛围。受制于国内因素的影响,拜登政府对外修复盟友关系、布局战略重组并非易事。鉴于美国在东北亚的政策调整,中国必须正视可能出现的问题,这不仅直接关系到“一带一路”倡议在这一地区的推进,而且对于中国周边安全稳定也至关重要,中国要积极做好应对。     

Life after work: older Australians' experiences of early exit from the workforce

Little is known about the experience of those in the baby boom cohort who are outside the labour market. Understanding their experience has the potential to inform policy strategies to support older people to remain longer in the workforce. Using in‐depth interview data from 26 participants, this paper examines the reasons people aged between 50 and 64 years give for being not‐employed, how they perceive it affects their health, how socioeconomic characteristics shape their experience and what would entice them back into paid work. Participants' main reasons for being not‐employed included: feeling financially able and ready to exit, feeling unhappy about workplace reorganisations, disability, or their partner's retirement or ill‐health. The reasons given and the degree to which they had planned to exit the workforce affected their willingness and capacity to consider returning. Key determinants of participants' health and wellbeing after stopping paid work were the extent to which they had planned their exit and the status of their health and wealth at the time of their exit. The paper concludes there is some scope for increasing the number of employed older people if policy makers attend to workforce health and wellbeing as crucial to workforce retention policy development.     

Conservative Ideas and Social Policy in the United States

This article explores social policy development in the United States since the beginning of the George W. Bush presidency. Starting from an analysis of the discourse about compassionate conservatism at the centre of the 2000 presidential campaign and proceeding to a discussion of the meaning of the more recent ownership society blueprint, it underlines the fragmented nature of the conservative policy agenda in the United States. Yet, the article suggests that, despite this fragmentation, the ideological dominance of the right and the related absence of needed reform in key policy areas are of great significance for the future of federal social policy. Overall, the article shows how paying close attention to the nature of conservative ideas improves our understanding of social policy development in the United States. As argued, the old liberal and the traditionalist sides of American conservatism have inspired distinct yet related blueprints and reform proposals that both promote a scaling-down of existing federal social programmes and a return to traditional forms of economic security (i.e. charity and personal savings). The article underlines the relationship between these blueprints and policy drift.     

Economic crisis and social policy reform in Korea

The economic crisis that broke out in Korea in December 1997 has had a chilling impact on social development in the country. Today unemployment is the highest that Korea has experienced in the past thirty years. This paper aims to examine the impact of the economic crisis on social development and the role of public policy to mitigate the problems caused by the crisis. The economic crisis has hit vulnerable groups harder, increased the proportion of part-time and daily workers, and reversed the trend of steady improvement of income distribution. The economic crisis along with the trend of aging population, globalization, and competition calls for an expanded role of social policy, which the Korean government has neglected for a long time. The main targets of social policy reform in Korea include the expansion of government programs and safety nets for the unemployed and redesigning the national pension and health insurance scheme to provide adequate income security as well as to improve the system sustainability.     

Retirement and health benefits for Mexican migrant workers returning from the United States

In the absence of a bilateral agreement for the portability and totalization of social security contributions between the United States and Mexico, this article examines the access to pension and health insurance benefits and employment status of older Mexican return migrants. We find that return migrants who have spent less than a year in the United States have a similar level of access to social security benefits as non‐migrants. Return migrants who have spent at least a year in the United States are less likely to have public health insurance or social security benefits, and could be more vulnerable to poverty in old age. These results inform the debate on a bilateral social security agreement between the United States and Mexico to improve return migrants' social security.     

Patchwork of promises: A critical analysis of immigration policies for unaccompanied undocumented children in the United States

In 2014, the United States saw a greater than 50% increase in the number of unaccompanied children from Mexico and Central America arriving at the U.S./Mexico border, and unaccompanied children continue to migrate to the United States in consistent numbers. The dramatic increase of 2014 exposed gaps in policies aimed at supporting unaccompanied children as they await legal adjudication. This paper begins with a historic review of immigration policies in the United States aimed at supporting unaccompanied migrant children. An analytic review is provided of existing immigration policies in the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, highlighting the competing paradigms created by missions of security‐focused policy versus child‐centred policy. A close examination of the values that influenced policy development in this area is included, along with a discussion of how social work practice can infuse elements of social justice into immigration policy reform. Areas for future research to reform immigration policy focused on supporting unaccompanied undocumented minors are highlighted.     

日本“团块世代”的退休影响分析

2007年开始,日本“团块世代”按照企业60岁退休制度陆续退休。团块世代一直支撑着日本技术。因此,“团块世代”退休给企业造成技能继承问题。日本政府出于缩减社会保障支出的考虑,制定了65岁退休的政策。基础年金也从65岁开始给付。这给“团块世代”带来就业压力。同时,也给企业的继续雇佣和国家的社会保障及财政带来沉重的负担。     

PREFERENCE FOR AGE-HOMOGENEOUS VERSUS AGE-HETEROGENEOUS SOCIAL INTERACTION

Immigration in the United States increased dramati- cally during lhe 1980s but its meaning for the field of aging has not been fully explored. This article explores the impact of immigration on first-generation immigrant women in Australia who are providing care for their parents. The women are from a variety of European and Asian countries. They must not only provide care for their par- ents but must also mediate conflicts between their parents, their spouse, and their children. The intergenerational issues found in this s~tuation have implications for social work services in the United States.     

Reactions to social security retirement reform proposals in the United States

For some time the actuarial imbalance between revenues and benefit payments in the Social Security retirement programme in the United States has been a concern for decision makers, professional analysts, and the public. In response to this actuarial imbalance, President George W. Bush proposed in 2004 that changes be made in the method whereby Social Security benefits are determined and that individual investment accounts be established under the rubric of Social Security. The debate over the issue was intense, but it was effectively stilled by the middle of 2005. The probable legacy of the 2004‐05 debate is that limits have been placed upon future options to deal with the Social Security programme's financial difficulties. This article identifies those constraints which, together, constitute the new public policy “template” for future debates relating to the Social Security retirement programme in the United States.     

Deciding Where to Retire: Intended Retirement Location Choices of Formerly Undocumented Mexican Migrants*

Objective. I use transnational theory to address how transnational relationships, behavior, and context influence retirement location choices of recently legalized immigrants. I also account for the relationship between assimilation and retirement location choices. Methods. To test these theories, I use the 1992 Legalized Population Survey to examine formerly undocumented Mexican immigrants' attachment to the United States through their intended retirement location, either the United States or Mexico. I use logistic regression to test whether the two theories are related with retirement location choices. Results. I find strong support for the role of transnational factors, thus widening the scope of the literature to include variables linking immigrants to their communities within Mexico. Conclusion. This study empirically tests and quantifies transnational theory using multivariate analysis, and adds to the transnational literature by suggesting that national boundaries are political constructs that do not completely contain social and economic systems.     

Framing perceptions of oil development and social disruption

This paper examines the perceived relationship between the presence and growth of the offshore oil industry in Louisiana and patterns of social disruption, particularly crime. Interview data were obtained from long-time residents in the coastal region of Louisiana, and a social constructionist perspective was used to frame the perceptions of these individuals (N = 94). Much previous research on the effects offshore oil development and its cyclical expansion and contraction has been premised on a boom/bust social impact model reflecting the experience of resource extraction in communities in the Western United States. In contrast to this literature, we found our subjects perceived far less in the way of disorganizing effects of oil development, and for the most part suggested the impacts to be either benign or positive. There was little support for a boom/bust model of community disruption, and thus we suggest research in this area consider alternative paradigms of interpretation of social impact.     

Transmission of monetary policy in the US and EU in times of expansion and crisis

In this work, the effectiveness of monetary policy and its transmission channels are analyzed before and after the 2007 economic crisis in the United States and the Eurozone by using a VAR model. We find that, in the United States, monetary policy before and after the crisis have been effective, with special emphasis on the “risk channel”. In the Eurozone, monetary policy was also effective before the crisis, being transmitted through the “credit channel”. Once the crisis erupted, unconventional monetary policy remained effective only at the start of the crisis; the risk channel then became the effective transmission mechanism.