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In this article we investigate the impact of the 1996 pension crisis in Russia on several measures of subjective well-being (SWB). Using a difference-in-difference strategy and an individual fixed-effects model, we find that an exogenous shock to the redistribution system has a significant negative effect on the SWB of pensioners who fail to receive their pensions. The effect differs across aspects of life evaluation; the shock has a significant negative effect on current life satisfaction (LS), whereas it has no effect on self-assessed health. The effect of the shock extends to non-pensioners who live with pensioners in arrears: they experience an equally strong and significant decline in LS even after accounting for personal income. In addition, we find that the pension crisis leads pensioner households to neither receive more nor send less money to extended family, thus leaving these households to bear alone the entire monetary cost. Lastly, we find suggestive evidence that the crisis, despite being a purely monetary shock, affects well-being in ways that go beyond the monetary size of pension loss. Policies aimed to fully compensate for such disruptions in the redistribution system would need to take these externalities into account.

The purpose of this paper is to draw upon empirical research in order to demonstrate the ways in which trade unions have responded to the so‐called current UK pension crisis.

The paper uses both theoretical approaches to neoliberalism, and empirical research in the form of interviews, to examine the contradictions between the rhetoric and reality of government policy towards, and trade union responses to, pension reform in the UK.

That trade unions have been constrained by: the fact that the labour party, which they support, has been in government but has increasingly become receptive to neoliberal economic policies; and by the broader discourse of pension reform, advanced by elites that are committed to neoliberal reforms to the British welfare state.

The scope of the paper is large and thus certain issues regarding the pension crisis and ideology are not covered in as much detail as would be preferred.

The paper offers forward a unique critique regarding the current favoured pension policies and solutions.

This paper draws upon front‐line theoretical contributions and combines them with the author's interviews with leading trade union general secretaries. As such, it is a unique insight into not only the current so‐called “pensions crisis” but also the responses of trade unions, and the labour movement more broadly, to this constructed dilemma.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which pension accounting represents an enabling or emancipatory accounting.

Many countries are facing a so‐called “pensions crisis” which is reflected in and arguably, to some extent at least, is precipitated by accounting. Occupational pensions in the UK are focused upon and their role in the pension crisis discussed. The enabling or emancipatory potential of the internet for accounting for occupational pension schemes is explored. The contents of the web sites of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (FTSE 100) are examined in terms of the elements of an enabling accounting, as set out by Gallhofer and Haslam in 1997. Alternative forms of accounting for pensions, including accounts by trade unions and others, are also examined.

The full possibilities of the internet have not yet been mobilised in respect of accounting for occupational pension schemes and companies' actions appear to be driven by the hegemony of the market rather than a concern for the social wellbeing of pensioners. A number of inequalities are evident.

The majority of UK employees have no occupational pension. The paper therefore only addresses one aspect of the pension crisis.

Suggests how corporate web sites could be improved through the provision of dedicated pensions sections and increased pensions' disclosures. Argues that alternative accounts provided by trade unions, organisations associated with the elderly and others are required to provide counter accounts. Calls for more education about the importance of saving from an early age.

Applies elements of an enabling accounting to a specific accounting problem, accounting for pensions.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how the current “crisis” in the UK pension system arose. I argue that it is a result of a combination of changes in government policy and basic instabilities always inherent in the financial system. Policy changes increased the vulnerability of the pension system to those instabilities. The background to these changes and also the frame of reference in terms of which the “crisis” itself is now phrased is broadly neoliberal. Its theoretical roots are in ideas of the efficiency of free markets. Its policy roots are expressed in a series of similar neoliberal policy tendencies in other capitalist states. I further argue that neoliberal solutions to the pension crisis simply offer more of the very matters that created the problems in the first place. Moreover, the very terms of debate, based in markets, financialisation of saving and individualisation of risk, disguise a more basic debate about providing a living retirement income for all. This is a debate that New Labour is simply not prepared to constructively engage with in any concrete fashion.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the debate about the emancipatory potential of the internet by commenting on the papers in this issue by Gallhofer et al. and by Paisey and Paisey.

The paper locates the internet within the politics of neoliberalism.

The internet is just another technology and its use and influence depend on the social and political contexts. The internet is not seen as a panacea but rather as a communicative device which has the potential to facilitate change. Whether that is realised depends upon how the counter accounts and critiques disseminated through it connect with the common sense of the people.

The paper encourages engagement with technology and also persuades readers to develop counter accounts and critiques of contemporary social problems.

The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical and empirical pension literatures to question whether employers are likely to gain any competitive advantage from degrading or eliminating their employees’ defined benefit (DB) pensions.

Critical literature review, bringing together and synthesizing the industrial relations, economics, social policy, and applied pensions literature.

DB pension plans do deliver a number of potential performance benefits, most notably a decrease in turnover and establishment of longer-term employment relationships. However, benefits are more pronounced in some conditions than others, which are identified.

Most of the analysis of pension effects to date focuses primarily on DB plans. Yet, these are declining in significance. In the years ahead, more attention needs to be paid to the potential consequences of defined contribution plans and other types of pension.

In re-evaluating DB pensions, firms have tended to focus on savings made through cost cutting. Yet, this approach tends to view a firm's people as an expense rather a potential asset. Attempts to abandon, modify, or otherwise reduce such schemes has the potential to save money in the short term, but the negative long-term consequences may be considerable, even if they are not yet obvious.

This paper is topical in that it consolidates existing research evidence from a number of different bodies of literature to make a case for the retention of DB pension plans, when, in many contexts, they are being scaled back or discarded. It raises a number of important issues for reflection by practitioners, and highlights key agendas for future scholarly research.

The UK is one of the few countries in Europe that is not facing a serious pensions crisis. The reasons for this are straightforward: state pensions are among the lowest in Europe, the UK has a long‐standing funded private pension sector, its population is ageing less rapidly than elsewhere in Europe and its governments have, since the beginning of the 1980s, taken measures to prevent a pension crisis developing. This article reviews the policies that have been implemented over the last two decades. It describes and analyses the defects in the Thatcher‐Major governments’ reforms that brought us to the current system, examines and assesses the reforms of the Blair government, and then identifies the problems that remain unresolved and how they might be addressed. Concludes with an examination of the implications of these reforms for the future of occupational pension schemes.

Examines the options for a pension system in Israel in comparison with other pension systems in developed countries. A basic actuarial model is calculated for the evaluation of the feasible funded pensions. For reasonably conservative rates of return and contribution rates a funded system can be maintained. Employs the conceptual framework to analyse proposals for the reform of the pension system. Suggests that a funded pension is preferable.

States that there was a time when nobody mentioned pensions unless someone had retired, but now pensions make headlines that affect people of all ages. Concludes that the UK state pension is steadily shrinking, and regarding occupational schemes (defined benefit schemes) many employers are closing their final salary pension schemes.