Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/zeswps/012015.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

In the wake of the crisis: Pension reforms in eight European countries

Author

Listed:
  • Hinrichs, Karl
Abstract
The 2008 financial market crisis, followed by the Great Recession and sovereign debt crises in several EU countries have triggered drastic reforms of old-age security systems. They were supposed to ensure the financial viability of public pension schemes in the short and long run and/or to realize notions of intergenerational fairness. Most urgently, however, was regaining room for fiscal manoeuvre and obtaining financial aid from supranational organizations (such as IMF or EU). These pension reforms differ from previous changes with regard to their scope and the political process. (1) They were large, thus causing a substantial and immediate impact on the living conditions of present and future retirees and, sometimes, changed the hitherto pursued policy direction. (2) The post-2008 reforms swiftly passed the legislative process and were implemented at short notice. Hence, they can be considered as "rapid policy changes". This paper analyses pension reforms in eight crisis-shaken EU countries: Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, and Spain. It explores both reform contents and circumstances which led to the respective changes or facilitated them. As is shown, the challenges, which those countries were (or still are) confronted with, allowed or enforced alterations that would not have been feasible otherwise, or which would rather not have been initiated by the respective governments with regard to the political consequences. Moreover, cross-national comparison reveals similarities and differences and also sheds light on the social consequences that are already visible today.

Suggested Citation

  • Hinrichs, Karl, 2015. "In the wake of the crisis: Pension reforms in eight European countries," Working papers of the ZeS 01/2015, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zeswps:012015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/106399/1/815227388.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sotiria Theodoropoulou, 2014. "Has the EU become more intrusive in shaping national welfare state reforms? Evidence from Greece and Portugal," Working Papers 11243, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).
    2. Robert Holzmann & Ufuk Guven, 2009. "Adequacy of Retirement Income after Pension Reforms in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe : Eight Country Studies," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2610.
    3. Vassiliki Koutsogeorgopoulou & Manos Matsaganis & Chrysa Leventi & Jan-David Schneider, 2014. "Fairly Sharing the Social Impact of the Crisis in Greece," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1106, OECD Publishing.
    4. Schludi, Martin, 2005. "The Reform of Bismarckian Pension Systems," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9789053567401.
    5. Bernard H. Casey, 2014. "From pension funds to piggy banks: (Perverse) consequences of the Stability and Growth Pact since the crisis," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(1), pages 27-48, January.
    6. Obinger, Herbert & Petersen, Klaus, 2014. "Mass warfare and the welfare: State causal mechanisms and effects," Working papers of the ZeS 02/2014, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    7. Scherger, Simone & Hagemann, Steffen, 2014. "Concepts of retirement and the evaluation of post-retirement work: Positions of political actors in Germany and the UK," Working papers of the ZeS 04/2014, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    8. Mitchell A. Orenstein, 2011. "Pension privatization in crisis: Death or rebirth of a global policy trend?," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(3), pages 65-80, July.
    9. Barry P. Bosworth & R. Kent Weaver, 2011. "Social Security on Auto-Pilot: International Experience with Automatic Stabilizer Mechanisms," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2011-18, Center for Retirement Research, revised Nov 2011.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zagel, Hannah, 2015. "Understanding differences in labour market attachment of single mothers in Great Britain and West Germany," Working papers of the ZeS 03/2015, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maron, Asa, 2014. "Reforming governance in the Israeli welfare state: The role of organizational settlements beyond the state in instituting change," Working papers of the ZeS 05/2014, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    2. Gordana Matković & Katarina Stanić, 2020. "The Serbian Pension System In Transition: A Silent Break With Bismarck," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 65(225), pages 105-134, April – J.
    3. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2014. "No exit from the euro-rescuing trap?," MPIfG Discussion Paper 14/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    4. Stefan Domonkos & Andras Simonovits, 2016. "Pensions in transition in EU11 countries between 1990 and 2015," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1615, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    5. Grech, Aaron George, 2010. "Assessing the sustainability of pension reforms in Europe," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 43865, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. DUMITRESCU, Bogdan-Andrei & DRAGHIA, Andreea Elena, 2019. "The Pension Formula In Romania €“ Inefficiencies And Possible Solutions," Studii Financiare (Financial Studies), Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 23(2), pages 61-74, June.
    7. Poteraj, Jarosław, 2008. "Pension systems in 27 EU countries," MPRA Paper 31053, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Carrera, Leandro N. & Angelaki, Marina, 2020. "The diversity and causality of pension reform pathways: a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102554, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. MLADEN, Luise, 2012. "Pension Reforms In Central And Eastern European Countries And Their Outcomes," Annals of Spiru Haret University, Economic Series, Universitatea Spiru Haret, vol. 3(1), pages 59-68.
    10. Carrera, Leandro & Angelaki, Marina, 2022. "The politics of pension policy responses to COVID-19: comparative insights from Chile, Bolivia and Peru," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 116666, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Andriopoulou, Eirini & Karakitsios, Alexandros & Tsakloglou, Panos, 2017. "Inequality and poverty in Greece: Changes in times of crisis," GLO Discussion Paper Series 119, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Manos Matsaganis, 2007. "Union Structures and Pension Outcomes in Greece," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(3), pages 537-555, September.
    13. Martin Hering, 2005. "Welfare Restructuring without Partisan Cooperation: The Role of Party Collusion in Blame Avoidance," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 142, McMaster University.
    14. Vlassis Missos, 2021. "Introducing a Safety Net: The Effects of Neoliberal Policy on Welfare, Poverty, and the Net Social Wage during the Greek Crisis," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(1), pages 58-76, March.
    15. Dragoș Alexandru HAȘEGAN, 2019. "An analyses model of the Romanian privately managed pension system," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(4(621), W), pages 139-148, Winter.
    16. Miroslav Verbič & Rok Spruk, 2019. "Political economy of pension reforms: an empirical investigation," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 171-232, April.
    17. Oriol Sabaté, 2016. "Does military pressure boost fiscal capacity? Evidence from late-modern military revolutions in Europe and North America," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(3), pages 275-298.
    18. Elena Lucia Croitoru, 2012. "Analysis of Pension Reforms in EU Member States," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 12(2), pages 117-126.
    19. repec:agr:journl:v:4(621):y:2019:i:4(621):p:139-148 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Boena CHOVANCOVÁ & Jaroslav HUDCOVSKÝ, 2016. "Return-risk profile of Slovak pension funds," REVISTA ADMINISTRATIE SI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC, Faculty of Administration and Public Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 2016(27), pages 94-106, Decembre.
    21. Maria Teresa Medeiros Garcia & André Fernando Rodrigues Rocha da Silva, 2023. "Pension expenditure determinants: the case of Portugal," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 47(2), pages 177-203.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:zeswps:012015. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zesbrde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.