Developments in European Pension Regulation: Risks and Challenges

AbstractWhat explains the remarkable resilience of pension regulation in postauthoritarian Chile, even after decades of majoritarian voter discontent and growing international and domestic criticism of Pinochet’s pioneering private capitalization system? This puzzling outcome can be understood only by looking at the combined effect of the pension industry’s long-term power-building investments and its short-term political actions to outmaneuver state and societal challengers. Engaging new theoretical developments in political economy and historical institutionalism, this study examines the long-term process by which the previously nonexistent Chilean pension industry expanded and leveraged its power during key episodes of open contestation. The analysis of pension regulation in Chile between the 1980s and the 2010s illustrates the importance of placing business power in time, motivating new rounds of theory building in the quest to address the perennial question of how business gets what it wants in the political arena.

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Flexicurity in Bismarckian Countries? Old Age Protection for Non-standard Workers in Belgium

Journal of Social Policy ◽

10.1017/s0047279407001523 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 125-143 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

HANS PEETERS ◽

ANNELIES DEBELS ◽

GERT VERSCHRAEGEN ◽

JOS BERGHMAN

Keyword(s):

Old Age ◽

Pension System ◽

Panel Study ◽

Job Mobility ◽

Research Strategy ◽

The Third ◽

Career Interruptions ◽

Temporal Flexibility ◽

Part Time ◽

Pension Regulation

In the debate on ‘flexicurity’, relatively little attention has been paid to how responsive traditional areas of social security have been to increasing flexibility in the labour market. This article tries to fill this gap by focusing on the Belgian pension system. In particular, it asks to what extent pension regulation in the three pillars has been adapted to the proliferation of atypical forms of employment. It does so by examining whether there are significant differences between old age protection of standard and non-standard workers. The article pursues a double research strategy: an analysis of Belgian legislation and relevant collective labour agreements is complemented with a statistical analysis of the Panel Study of Belgian Households (PSBH). The results show that part-time employment results in a lower first-pillar pension, while other forms of temporal flexibility such as career interruptions and temporary unemployment do not. In the second pillar, our findings suggest that workers with contractual flexibility and job mobility are discriminated against. Finally, non-standard workers do not appear to compensate for lower pension protection through increased participation in the third pension pillar. Our findings suggest the need for a re-assessment of the system of ‘assimilated’ periods. To conclude, we point to some implications for the design of flexicurity policies.

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A History of Pensions in Ukraine

University Scientific Notes ◽

10.37491/unz.77.9 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 97-109

Author(s):

Мykhailo SHUMYLO

Keyword(s):

Social Security ◽

Interwar Period ◽

Legal Regulation ◽

Soviet Period ◽

Soviet Government ◽

Development Stages ◽

Social Law ◽

Western Ukraine ◽

History Of ◽

Pension Regulation

Starting with the early examples of legal regulation by positive laws, the history of pensions in Ukraine has been studied. It has been found that the history of pension regulation, along with theory, is an integral part of social security law since it illustrates the dynamics of legal norms, which in turn allows lawmakers to avoid errors and predict their consequences during law reforms. It has been proved that the history of social security law should cover not only pensions that were established in the territory of Dnieper and Sloboda Ukraine but also pension regulation in Western Ukraine. Taking into account the fragmentation of the Ukrainian lands in the second half of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, historical development stages of pensions in these territories have been classified into the following periods: (1) during the Russian Empire, which included Dnieper and Sloboda Ukraine; (2) during the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, which included Eastern Galicia and Bukovina; (3) development of pensions in Western Ukraine that was part of the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period; (4) pensions during the Soviet period; (5) development of pensions during the modern period (from the declaration of independence of Ukraine to the present day). It has been found that pension regulation in Western Ukraine during the interwar period was one of the most advanced in Europe since it was significantly influenced by Prussian (Bismarck’s) social law. It has been concluded that one of the features of pension regulation during the Soviet period was its discrimination that evolved from non-payments of pensions to some class enemies (the White Guards and their families, the nobility, the clergy, etc.) to discrimination based on profession (workers and peasants). Also, it has been proved that for the first time in the history of social security the latter was used by the Soviet government as an instrument in order to restrain and punish its own citizens. Four development stages of pension regulation, which was established after 1991, have been distinguished. The history of pensions has been defined as part of the social security law doctrine.

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