Pension Reform in Britain

Edward Whitehouse ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper examines the evolution of the pension system in Britain. In particular, it focuses on the shift from pay-as-you-go, state-run defined-benefit pensions to individual, private-sector, funded defined-contribution accounts. It looks at three issues in this reform: the financing of the transition from pay-as-you-go to funded provision; the fiscal impact of voluntary switching and adverse selection; and the question of the degree to which personal pension accounts were ‘over-sold’ to individuals for whom they were not suitable. The paper examines recent reform proposals and the prospects for reform under the New Labour government. It concludes that the British system has avoided a future financial crisis arising from the demographic transition, but that problems of incentives and retirement-income adequacy remain.

Keywords: pensions; United Kingdom (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 H55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/14175/1/MPRA_paper_14175.pdf original version (application/pdf)

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:pra:mprapa:14175

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().