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This paper considers the effects on current pensioner incomes of reforms designed to improve the long-term sustainability of public pension systems in the European Union. We use EUROMOD to simulate a set of common illustrative reforms for four countries selected on the basis of their diverse pension systems and patterns of poverty among the elderly: Denmark, Germany, Italy and the UK. The variations in fiscal and distributive effects on the one hand suggest that different paths for reform are necessary in order to achieve common objectives across countries, and on the other provide indications of the appropriate directions for reform in each case.

Driven by the aim to increase the participation of older people in the labour force and to extend people's working lives, the Swedish Parliament passed a bill in 1998 to increase the pension eligibility age from 60 to 61 years and establish a notional defined-contribution (NDC) plan. In this article, the authors investigate the impacts towards the prolongation of working lives expected from such an intervention.

The authors apply a multinomial probabilistic model based on Swedish registry data on the birth cohorts 1937–1938 (n = 102,826) and observe differences in exit behaviour between eligible and non-eligible individuals.

The authors find that the cohorts eligible to the pension reform exit the labour market at a later age compared to non-eligible cohorts at the 61-years cut-off. The authors also find that the effect persists in the long term. Furthermore, the authors find that both men and women are equally struck by the reform.

While there exist many descriptive reports and theoretical analyses on the costs and benefits of pension reforms, this study is the first one to empirically analyse the effect of the first European NDC pay-as-you go pension plan on the potential exclusion of old-aged workers.

Increasing longevity and lower birth rates put pressure on the sustainability of pension systems. This compels countries to reform pension schemes. Different countries opt for different types of reforms. This article examines the scope of possibilities for a pension reform in two countries with distinct institutional and ideational setup: Finland and France.

The authors utilise the framework of different modes of justification presented by Boltanski and Thévenot to reveal the reasoning used in pension reform discussions in both countries. The authors study expert reports to analyse how nationally constructed ideas and local institutions frame and shape the different logics and justifications.

In Finland, the approach to pensions is dominated by industrial and market justifications. The pension system is institutionally separated into two different blocks: one addressing poverty and the other income maintenance. The separation enables the prevalence of these logics and makes it easier to promote reforms that emphasize efficiency and individual responsibility instead of income distribution. The French report is concentrated around civic and domestic dominated justifications by stressing solidarity and the role of pension systems connecting individuals and generations together. Any reform needs to consider these issues.

The article uses a novel research design to study pension reform processes. The article distinguishes the roles that ideas and institutions have in shaping expert reasoning and reform options. The authors show how ideas and institutions form a mutually reinforcing loop which helps to explain path-dependency in pension systems.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on accounting's role in bringing about a pension reform project in Chile under the authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet. The paper aims to reveal the specific role that the pension reform played in the regime's broader ideological goals, thus highlighting the need to reflect upon its origins when considering the reform as a template for pension change in other parts of the world.

The study brings together archival research showing accounting in its relation to broader structural and institutional structures, to present an alternative history of the development and implementation of the pension reform.

The pension reform was not merely a rationally chosen economic reform project. It was part of a vast modernization and institutionalization programme to change Chilean society and the mindset of its citizens. Accounting played a significant role in both the administration and functioning of the project, and in enabling the broader modernizations to take hold.

The Chilean pension model is held up as a fully‐exportable template to other jurisdictions. The study reveals how reflection is required to determine its suitability and potential for success in other situations, given the very specific role it was intended to play in its original setting.

This paper represents an under‐researched geographic setting, and also questions this much‐lauded pension model's appropriateness for other settings.

Contemporary debates over the future direction of retirement pensions policy have been dominated by a polemic over the scope of, and the future balance between, the respective roles of public and private sectors in the management and delivery of benefit “entitlements”. This debate has negatively judged the institutional capacity of the state sustainably to supply adequate national retirement provision. This development is viewed as problematic as it is contentious in that it seeks to abandon lessons learned from the long, albeit currently underestimated, historical pedigree of public‐private partnership in institutional pensions provision. Against the ascendancy of World Bank‐driven attitudes regarding the limitations of “public”’ pensions provision, it is argued that due recognition be given to the ongoing capacity of state sectors to contribute positively to the management and delivery of old‐age pensions. Argues further that the social welfare‐driven imperatives which led states initially to become increasingly more involved in national pensions provision remain no less salient today and for the future, and are particularly salient for developing economies with poorly developed private financial sectors.

India's planned pension reform will open the sector to private fund managers. Drawing on international experiences, the chapter highlights pre-conditions for the reform to kick-start financial development, including (i) the buildup of critical mass, (ii) sufficiently flexible investment guidelines and regulations, and (iii) concurrent reforms in capital markets. Given the limited scale of the planned reform, the key challenge for India is to achieve sufficient critical mass. Options include granting permission for existing workers to switch to the new system or outsourcing all or part of the reserves of private sector provident funds to the new pension fund managers.