The Retirement Income System and the Risks Faced by Canadian Seniors

Kevin Milligan and Tammy Schirle

CLSSRN working papers from Vancouver School of Economics

Abstract: In this paper, we use a risk framework to analyze the risks seniors face and discuss the success of Canada’s retirement income system in insuring against these risks. We focus on four types of risk: (i) the risk of low income at the onset of retirement, (ii) longevity risk, (iii) business cycle risk, and (iv) decision-making risk. The research conducted by CLSRN researchers and others leads us to conclude that, overall, Canada’s retirement income system successfully mitigates against most risks facing Canadian seniors. Important gaps remain, however. Some demographic groups remain at higher risk of poverty at the onset of retirement. Risks of longevity and widowhood are not fully insured. Private savings are subject to financial return risk. The complexity of some retirement income programs makes it difficult for seniors to plan their retirement income optimally.

Keywords: Seniors; Retirement; Public Policy; Pensions; Risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J14 J18 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56 pages
Date: 2013-04-29, Revised 2013-04-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-rmg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.clsrn.econ.ubc.ca/workingpapers/CLSRN%2 ... nthesis%20Report.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2013-27

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CLSSRN working papers from Vancouver School of Economics
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Vivian Tran ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).