Closing the coverage gap : role of social pensions and other retirement income transfers / Robert Holzmann, David A. Robalino, Noriuki Takayama, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Holzmann, Robert.

Robalino, David A.

Takayama, Noriyuki, 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Old age pensions--Government policy.

Old age pensions.

Retirement income--Government policy.

Retirement income.

Social security.

Physical Description:

xv, 225 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : World Bank, 2009.

Summary:

In high-income countries, the percent of the population covered under mandatory old-age pension programs is typically high but often incomplete; in low- and middle-income countries, coverage is low and even stagnant. At the same time, older people are less able to rely on family and community support as a result of growing urbanization and migration. And low-income workers and the poor simply cannot save enough to prepare for their old age. As a response, many countries are considering or have already implemented various forms of retirement income transfers aiming to guarantee a minimum level of income during old age. Despite the growing popularity of these programs, research assessing their success has been limited.

Closing the Coverage Gap: The Role of Social Pensions and Other Retirement Income Transfers brings together a group of renowned academics, policy analysts, and policy makers working in the area of pensions and public policy. They discuss how social pensions and other retirement income transfers can be used to close the coverage gap of mandatory pension systems: how they operate, when they can be appropriate, and how to make them work. The book reviews the experiences of low-, middle-, and high-income transfers. The book analyzes design issues related to financing, incentives, targeting mechanisms, and administration, and also identifies the role of promising instruments such as matching contributions to reach parts of the informal sector.

Contents:

Overview and preliminary policy guidance / David A. Robalino and Robert Holzmann

Measuring the coverage gap / Alvaro Forteza, Leonardo Lucchetti, and Montserrat Pallares-Miralles

Pensions and old-age poverty / Stephen Kidd and Edward Whitehouse

Rights-based approach to social security coverage expansion / Krzysztof Hagemejer

Social pensions in low-income countries / Armando Barrientos

Social pensions in four middle-income countries / Mukul G. Asher

Social pensions in high-income countries / Mark Pearson and Edward Whitehouse

Pension coverage in Japan / Noriyuki Takayama

The role of social pensions in the Republic of Korea / Hyungpyo Moon

Incentive effects of retirement income transfers / John Piggott, David A. Robalino, and Sergi Jimenez-Martin

Financing social pensions / Alain Jousten

Defining eligibility for social pensions : a view from a social assistance perspective / Margaret Grosh and Phillippe G. Leite

Matching defined contributions : a way to increase pension coverage / Robert Palacious and David A. Robalino

Administration of social pension programs / Oleksiy Sluchynsky.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780821379714

0821379712

9780821379806

0821379801

OCLC:

318716136