The Sustainability of Pension Schemes

25 Pages Posted: 6 Jan 2012

See all articles by Srichander Ramaswamy

Srichander Ramaswamy

Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

Date Written: January 1, 2012

Abstract

Poor financial market returns and low long-term real interest rates in recent years have created challenges for the sponsors of defined benefit pension schemes. At the same time, lower payroll tax revenues in a period of high unemployment, and rising fiscal deficits in many advanced economies as economic activity has fallen, are also testing the sustainability of pay-as-you-go public pension schemes. Amendments to pension accounting rules that require corporations to regularly report the valuation differences between their defined benefit pension assets and plan liabilities on their balance sheet have made investors more aware of the pension risk exposure for the sponsors of such schemes. This paper sheds light on what effects these developments are having on the design of occupational pension schemes, and also provides some estimates for the post-employment benefits that could be delivered by these schemes under different sets of assumptions. The paper concludes by providing some policy perspectives.

Keywords: Pension funds, service cost, contribution rates, mortality rates, long-term real interest rates, real wages, sovereign liabilities, pay-as-you-go schemes

JEL Classification: G23, H55, J32

Suggested Citation

Ramaswamy, Srichander, The Sustainability of Pension Schemes (January 1, 2012). BIS Working Paper No. 368, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1980094 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1980094

Srichander Ramaswamy (Contact Author)

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) ( email )

CH-4002 Basel, Basel-Stadt
Switzerland

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