The Varieties of Pension Governance

Pension Privatization in Europe

Edited by Bernhard Ebbinghaus

Contributors are pension policy experts
Contains in-depth country studies

The Varieties of Pension Governance

Pension Privatization in Europe

Edited by Bernhard Ebbinghaus

Description

The ongoing privatization of pensions--the shift from state to private responsibility for old age retirement income--raises fundamental issues of social and participatory rights. The recent financial market crisis makes the problematic nature of funded private pensions that fall short of expected returns dramatically clear. What have been the experiences in developed multipillar systems? What can be learned for those pensions systems currently under reform?

This edited book compares the varieties of pension governance in ten European countries. Contrasting the experience of developed multipillar systems such as Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland with the recent shift toward private occupational and personal pensions in Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. The country chapters investigate how and why old age income responsibilities are being shifted to employers, unions, and individuals. They describe the changing public and private pension mix, and the particular features of the private occupational and personal pensions.

In particular The Varieties of Pension Governance discusses four major questions: who is covered, what kind of benefits, who pays, and who governs? Three comparative analyses provide an additional value, describing the long-term institutional change from public to multipillar pension systems, the variations in regulation and governance of private pensions, and the consequences for income inequality in old age. This book combines the benefits of a reference work--ten up-to-date country studies of major pension systems in Europe--with three cross-national comparative empirical analyses that provide comprehensive information on important aspects of the reform development, societal governance, and social outcomes of pension systems.

The Varieties of Pension Governance

Pension Privatization in Europe

Edited by Bernhard Ebbinghaus

Part One: Comparing Pension Privatization in Europe
1. Introduction: Studying Pension Privatization in Europe, Bernhard Ebbinghaus
2. The Changing Public-Private Pension Mix in Europe: From Path Dependence to Path Departure, Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Mareike Gronwald
Part Two: Bismarckian Late-Comers to Multipillar Pension Systems
3. Belgium: The Paradox of Persisting Voluntarism in a Corporatist Welfare State, Johan J. De Deken
4. France: Promoting Funded Pensions in Bismarckian Corporatism?, Marek Naczyk and Bruno Palier
5. Germany: Departing from Bismarckian Public Pensions, Bernhard Ebbinghaus, Mareike Gronwald, and Tobias Wiss
6. Italy: From Bismarckian Pensions to Multipillarization under Adverse Conditions, Matteo Jessoula
Part Three: Emergent Nordic Multipillar Pension Systems
7. Denmark: The Silent Revolution toward a Multipillar Pension System, Jorgen Goul Andersen
8. Finland: From Statutory Pension Dominance towards Voluntary Private Schemes, Olli Kangas and Paivi Luna
9. Sweden: A Viable Public-Private Pension System, Gabriella Sjogren Lindquist and Eskil Wadensjo
Part Four: Mature Multipillar Pension Systems
10. Great Britain: Exhausted Voluntarism--The Evolution of Britain's Hybrid Pension Regime, Paul Bridgen and Traute Meyer
11. The Netherlands: Adapting a Multipillar Pension System to Demographic and Economic Change, Karen M. Anderson
12. Switzerland: Regulating a Public-Private Heritage of Multipillar Pension Governance, Giuliano Bonoli and Silja Hausermann
Part Five: Comparing Pension Systems and their Outcome
13. The Governance and Regulation of Private Pensions in Europe, Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Tobias Wiss
14. The Public-Private Mix and Old Age Income Inequality in Europe, Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Jorg Neugschwender

The Varieties of Pension Governance

Pension Privatization in Europe

Edited by Bernhard Ebbinghaus

Author Information

Bernhard Ebbinghaus is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) at the University of Mannheim. He was Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Wisconsin-Madison and Jena. His main research interests are comparative social policy, industrial relations and labor market developments.

Contributors:

Karen Anderson, Associate Professor of Political Science, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University of Nijmegen
Giuliano Bonoli, Professor, Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP)
Paul Bridgen, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton
Johan De Deken, Lecturer of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam
Bernhard Ebbinghaus, Professor of Sociology, School of Social Sciences; Director of the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), University of Mannheim
Jørgen Goul Andersen, Professor of Political Science, University of Aarhus
Mareike Gronwald, Researcher, Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), University of Mannheim
Silja Häusermann, Researcher and Lecturer of Political Science, University of Zurich
Matteo Jessoula, Assistant Professor of Social and Political Studies, University of Milan
Olli Kangas, Professor and Head of the Research Department, Social Insurance Institution (KELA)
Gabriella Sjögren Lindquist, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Stockholm; Deputy Director, Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI)
Päivi Luna, Research and Development Manager, Federation of Finnish Financial Services
Traute Meyer, Reader, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton
Marek Naczyk, DPhil Candidate, Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University
Jörg Neugschwender, Researcher, Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES); PhD Candidate, Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences (GESS), University of Mannheim