Download This PaperThe Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Pensions
A New World Post COVID-19: Lessons for Business, the Finance Industry and Policy Makers, edited by Monica Billio and Simone Varotto, Ca’ Foscari University Press, 2020, pp. 235-244.
10 Pages Posted: 10 Jun 2020 Last revised: 31 Jul 2020
Date Written: June 17, 2020
Abstract
COVID-19 and the lockdowns have had a big global economic effect, as well as increasing mortality. We examine the effects of COVID-19 and the resulting relaxations of pension regulations on pension schemes. Those who transfer their pension or withdraw cash from their pension pot while asset prices are depressed by COVID-19 are losers; as are members of defined benefit schemes with a deficit whose employer fails due to COVID-19. The increased mortality from covid-19 will have a minimal effect on pensions. If economies recover to pre-covid-19 levels, the long run effects on pensions should be small.
Keywords: Pensions; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Longevity; Mortality; Lockdown; Pension contributions; Pension transfers; Pension scams; Pension withdrawals; State pensions
JEL Classification: G22; G23; G28; H55; H75; J32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation