Social Security Pensions: Development and Reform

Social Security Pensions: Development and Reform - Colin Gillion

The reform and the development of pension schemes are affected by the values society places on the provision of income security in old age and the resources it is prepared to allocate for the purpose. This paper examines those values and the issues arising from them. The objective is to propose reforms which will simultaneously provide full coverage with good governance, prevent poverty in old age, and result in indexed, guaranteed and reliable pensions for those onaverage incomes, all with minimum economic distortion or adverse economic effects. The question of the most appropriate design has to be weighed against these other factors, which will determine not only what is feasible and what is not, but also where the most desirable balance lies. The optimum structure would seem to involve a mix of defined benefit and defined contribution schemes