From Public Pension to Private Savings: The Current Pension Reform Process in Europe

Inhalt Reforms of the public pension systems are on top of the European policy agenda. Current costs are high, and the pressures will increase due to population aging and negative incentive effects. This paper describes the causes of the current pension problems and the cures required to make the pay-as-you-go public pension systems in Continental Europe sustainable. There is no single policy prescription that can solve all problems at once. Reform elements include a freeze in the contribution and tax rates, an indexation of benefits to the dependency ratio, measures to stop the current trend towards early retirement, an adaptation of the normal retirement age to increased life expectancy; and more reliance on private savings – elements of a sustainable but complex multipillar system of retirement income provision.