Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-68ccn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T21:25:48.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Elephants on the move. Patterns of public pension reform in OECD countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Karl Hinrichs
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Among OECD countries there are two clusters of old-age security systems: (1) ‘Social insurance’ countries had, by the end of the 1960s, fashioned the core of old-age security as public, contributory, earnings-related and unfunded insurance schemes; (2) a diverse collection of countries that, after 1970, topped up their basic pension arrangements with funded occupational pension schemes with (almost) universal coverage. ‘Social insurance’ countries, on which this essay focuses, reveal at least six common trends in pension reform, all about improving the financial sustainability of public schemes. Although the repertoire of incremental adjustment strategies is quite limited, policy changes since the early 1980s have not led to a clear convergence among ‘social insurance’ countries (or across the two clusters). Their original diversity has been somewhat diminished, but it has for the most part merely taken a different form. Public pension reforms regularly harmed (future) beneficiaries. Nevertheless, most reforms were actually based on broad political consensus. The success of attempts to introduce retrenchment policies depends on prior negotiation with – and support obtained from – collective actors above and beyond a simple parliamentary majority. This peculiar prerequisite ensures success in the sense of a sustained implementation of the measures taken and of actual improvement in public trust in ‘reliable’ pension schemes.

Type
Focus: The future of the Welfare State
Information
European Review , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , July 2000 , pp. 353 - 378
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Advisory Council on Social Security (1997) Report of the 1994–1996 Advisory Council on Social Security, Vol. I: Findings and Recommendations, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Arnold, R.D. (1998) The Politics of Reforming Social Security, Political Science Quarterly, 113, 213–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Artoni, R. and Zanardi, A. (1997) The Evolution of the Italian Pension System, in: Ministère de L'Emploi et de la Solidarité, Mission Recherche et Expérimentation (MIRE), Comparing Social Welfare Systems in Southern Europe, Vol. 3, Florence Conference, Paris, pp. 243–266.Google Scholar
Bennett, C.J. (1991) Review article: what is policy convergence and what causes it?, British Journal of Political Science, 21, 215–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonoli, G. (1997) Pension politics in France: patterns of co-operation and conflict in two recent reforms, West European Politics, 20(4), 111–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borchert, J. (1998) Ausgetretene Pfade? Zur Statik und Dynamik wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Regime, in: Lessenich, S. and Ostner, I. (eds), Welten des Wohlfahrtskapitalismus. Der Sozialstaat in vergleichender Perspektive, Frankfurt/New York: Campus, pp. 137–176.Google Scholar
Cichon, M. (1999) Nominelle beitragsbestimmte Systeme: Alter Wein in neuen Flaschen?, Internationale Revue für Soziale Sicherheit, 52(4), 105–126.Google Scholar
Cox, R.H. (1998) The consequences of welfare reform: how conceptions of social rights are changing, Journal of Social Policy, 27, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, E.P. (1995) Pension Funds: Retirement-Income Security and Capital Markets. An International Perspective, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Department of Social Security (1998) A New Contract for Welfare: Partnership in Pensions, Cm. 4179, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Edey, M. and Simon, J. (1998) Australia's retirement income system, in: Feldstein, M. (ed), Privatizing Social Security, Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 63–89.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1996) Welfare states without work: the impasse of labor shedding and familialism in continental European social policy, in: Esping-Andersen, G. (ed), Welfare States in Transition, London: Sage, pp. 66–87.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1999) Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, P.A. (1993) Policy paradigms, social learning, and the state: the case of economic policymaking in Britain, Comparative Politics, 25, 275–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heclo, H. (1998) A political science perspective on social security reform, in: Arnold, R.D. et al. (eds), Framing the Social Security Debate, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, pp. 65–89.Google Scholar
Hinrichs, K. (1993) Public pensions and demographic change: generational equity in the United States and Germany, Universität Bremen, Zentrum für Sozialpolitik, ZeS-Arbeitspapier Nr. 16/93, Bremen.Google Scholar
Hinrichs, K. (1998) Reforming the public pension scheme in Germany: the end of the traditional consensus?, Universität Bremen, Zentrum für Sozialpolitik, ZeS-Arbeitspapier Nr. 11/98, Bremen.Google Scholar
Hinrichs, K. (2000a) Von der Rentenversicherungs- und Alterssicherungspolitik. Reformen und Reformprobleme. in: Hinrichs, K. et al. (eds), Kontingenz und Krise. Institutionenpolitik in kapitalistischen und postsozialistischen Gesellschaften, Frankfurt/New York: Campus, pp. 291–317.Google Scholar
Hinrichs, K. (2000b) Rentenreformpolitiken in OECD-Ländern. Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich, Deutsche Rentenversicherung No. 3–4, 188–209.Google Scholar
Huber, E. and Stephens, J.D. (1993) Political parties and public pensions: a quantitative analysis, Acta Sociologica, 36, pp. 309–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, P. (1999) The measurement of social security convergence: the case of European public pension systems since 1950, Journal of Social Policy, 28, 595–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kangas, O. and Palme, J. (1991) The public–private mix in pension policy, International Journal of Sociology, 20(4), 78–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kato, J. (1991) Public pension reforms in the United States and Japan: a study of comparative public policy, Comparative Political Studies, 24, 100–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klammer, U. and Rolf, G. (1998) Auf dem Weg zu einer gerechteren Alterssicherung? Rentenreformpolitik in Deutschland und Italien im Vergleich, Zeitschrift für Sozialreform, 44, 793–817.Google Scholar
Korpi, W. and Palme, J. (1998) The paradox of redistribution and strategies of equality, American Sociological Review, 63, 661–687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, J.D. (1999) Vice into virtue? Progressive politics and welfare reform in continental Europe, Politics and Society, 27, 239–273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindbeck, A. (1994) Uncertainty under the welfare state – policy-induced risk, The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, 19, 379–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, L. (1999) Retirement income security in the United Kingdom, Social Security Bulletin 62(1), 23–46.Google ScholarPubMed
Mairhuber, I. (1998) Soziale Sicherung in Italien, in: Tálos, E. (ed), Soziale Sicherung im Wandel: Österreich und seine Nachbarstaaten, Wien/Köln/Weimar: Böhlau, pp. 103–170.Google Scholar
McCarthy, S. (1998) Martin backs off seniors plan, The Globe and Mail, July 29, A1 and A4.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (1998) The Pension Reform. Final Report, 06 1998, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Myles, J. (1998) Discussion: insights from social security reform abroad, in: Arnold, R.D. et al. (eds), Framing the Social Security Debate, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, pp. 237–248.Google Scholar
Myles, J. and Quadagno, J. (1997) Recent trends in public pension reform: a comparative view, in: Banting, K.G. and Boadway, R. (eds), Reform of Retirement Income Policy: International and Canadian Perspectives, Kingston, Ontario: School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, pp. 247–271.Google Scholar
Myles, J. and Pierson, P. (2000) The comparative political economy of pension reform, in: Pierson, P. (ed.), The New Politics of the Welfare State, Oxford: OUP (forthcoming).Google Scholar
OECD (1988) Reforming Public Pensions, OECD Social Policy Studies, No. 5, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (1996) Ageing in OECD Countries: A Critical Policy Challenge, OECD Social Policy Studies, No. 20, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (1998) Maintaining Prosperity in an Ageing Society, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Oorschot, W. van and Boos, C. (1999) Dutch pension policy and the ageing of the population, European Journal of Social Security, 1, 295–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overbye, E. (1994) Convergence in policy outcomes: social security systems in perspective, Journal of Public Policy, 14, 147–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overbye, E. (1998) Risk and Welfare: Examining Stability and Change in ‘Welfare’ Policies, Norsk institutt for forskning om oppvekst, velferd og aldring, NOVA Rapport 5/98, Oslo: NOVA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, E. (1998) The Swedish pension reform model – framework and issues, Stockholm (mimeo.).Google Scholar
Pierson, C. (1998) Globalisation and the changing governance of welfare states: superannuation reform in Australia, Global Society, 12, 31–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, P. (1996) The new politics of the welfare state, World Politics, 48, 143–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quadagno, J. (1999) Creating a capital investment welfare state: the new American exceptionalism, American Sociological Review, 64, 1–11.Google Scholar
Ross, F. (1997) Cutting public expenditures in advanced industrial democracies: the importance of avoiding blame, Governance, 10, 175–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherman, K.G. (1999) The Swedish pension reform, International Labour Office, Social Security Department, Issues in Social Protection, Discussion Paper No. 7, Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
Sozialbeirat, (1998) Gutachten des Sozialbeirats zum Rentenversicherungsbericht 1998 und Stellungnahme zu einigen weiteren Berichten zur Alterssicherung, in: Bundesregierung, Rentenversicherungsbericht 1998, Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 13/11290 (v. 17.07.98), Bonn, pp. 239–251.Google Scholar
Sozialbeirat, (1999) Gutachten des Sozialbeirats zum Rentenversicherungsbericht 1999, in: Bundesregierung, Rentenversicherungsbericht 1999, Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 14/2116 (v. 02.12.99), Berlin, pp. 131–147.Google Scholar
Sundén, A. (2000) How will Sweden's new pension system work?, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Issue Brief, No. 3/2000, Chestnut Hill, MA.Google Scholar
Tálos, E. and Kittel, B. (1999) Sozialpartnerschaft und Sozialpolitik, in: Karlhofer, F. and Tálos, E. (eds), Zukunft der Sozialpartnerschaft. Veränderungsdynamik und Reformbedarf, Wien: Signum, pp. 137–164.Google Scholar
Titmuss, R.M. (1976) Pension systems and population change, in: Essays on ‘The Welfare State’, 3rd edn, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., pp. 56–74 (first: 1958).Google Scholar
Weaver, R.K. (1986) The politics of blame avoidance, Journal of Public Policy, 6, 371–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, R.K. (1998) The politics of pensions: lessons from abroad, in: Arnold, R.D. et al. (eds), Framing the Social Security Debate, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, pp. 183–229.Google Scholar
World Bank (1994) Averting the Old Age Crisis: Policies to Protect the Old and Promote Growth, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zacher, H.F. (1987) Grundtypen des Sozialrechts, in: Fürst, W. et al. (eds), Festschrift für Wolfgang Zeidler, Bd. 1, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, pp. 571–595.Google Scholar