Between Individual Risk and State Responsibility: 20 Years of Swedish Premium Pensions

Abstract

In 2000, the Swedish pension reform of 1998 led to the introduction of a capital-funded pension component with individual investment accounts in the first pillar of the pension system, known as the premium pension. This article takes the 20th anniversary of the Swedish premium pension as an opportunity for a fundamental evaluation. It shows which guiding principles the premium pension system was founded on when it was introduced, which problems have arisen since its introduction, how the system has been modified over the years, and which reform debates are currently underway. It shows, in particular, how the political debates regarding the matter of state responsibility versus individual risk have changed over the past 20 years. In doing so, the article looks at the effects these debates have already had on the institutional design and legal entrenchment of the premium pension system and how they are shaping the upcoming fundamental reform of the system.

Keywords: Pension reform, pension sustainability, state responsibility, Sweden

JEL Classification: K39