Pensions at a glance: public policies across OECD countries

Reforming pensions is one of the biggest challenges of the century. All OECD countries have to adjust to the ageing of their populations and re-balance retirement income provision to keep it adequate and ensure that the retirement income system is financially sustainable. Demographers have been warning us for some time that ageing is looming and that when it strikes populations and workforces will rapidly age. But many governments preferred to ignore the call for reform and cling to the hope of postponing solutions beyond the next election or claiming that rather painless remedies could be found. Immigration of younger workers, more women in work and higher productivity were put forward in the hope that more painful solutions could be avoided. All of these factors can certainly help to cope with ageing and especially with the financing of pensions but the increases necessary to compensate for ageing are so large that one cannot rely on them alone. Most OECD countries have realised this and have undertaken numerous reforms during past years. But pension reform is a difficult task. It involves long-term policy decisions under uncertain conditions and often the likely impact of these decisions on the well-being of pensioners is not spelt out clearly. More than most other areas, pension reform is a highly sensitive topic. Not only does it lead to heated ideological debates, but it makes people protest in the streets, and even forces governments to retreat from needed reforms. As people working on pension reforms around the world, we at the OECD Secretariat are asked time and again for the “right” solution to the problem. Which country does it the best way, which country is doing the worst job, which systems are the most generous, will it be possible to reform without increasing pensioner poverty, and will countries be able to pay for the promises they are making? There are no simple answers to these questions. National retirement-income systems are complex and pension benefits depend on a wide range of factors. Differences in retirement ages, benefit calculation methods and adjustment of paid-out pensions make it very difficult to compare pension policies across countries. Another problem is that life expectancies at retirement differ from one country to another, which means that some countries will have to pay pensions for a much longer period of retirement than others. As a result national debates are often full of misleading claims regarding the generosity and affordability of other countries’ pension arrangements. International comparisons to date have focussed mostly on the fiscal aspects of the ageing problem. But much less attention has been paid to the social sustainability of pension systems and the impact of reforms on the adequacy and distribution of pensioner incomes. But these aspects are also crucial if countries want to attain the dual objective of promising affordable pensions and preventing a resurgence of pensioner poverty. This report presents the first direct comparison of pension promises across OECD countries. It provides a novel framework to assess the future impact of today’s pension policies, including their economic and social objectives. It takes account of the detailed rules of pension systems but summarises them in measures that are easy to compare. Pension benefits are projected for workers at different levels of earnings, covering all mandatory sources of retirement income for private-sector workers, including minimum pensions, basic and means-tested schemes, earnings-related programmes and defined contribution schemes. Another novelty is the inclusion of the large effects of the personal income tax and social security contributions on living standards in work and in retirement: all indicators are presented gross and net of taxes and contributions. The framework can be used in different ways. As it is flexible to changing assumptions, the impact of policy reforms and economic developments on pension entitlements can be simulated. It can provide answers to questions such as what would happen if a country switched from wage to price indexation of pensions, or changed the benefit accrual rate. It can also inform on the impact of changes in economic growth, interest rates, wage growth or inflation on pensions of future retirees. The OECD will use the framework to monitor pension reforms in member countries by updating this report regularly. This report is the first in a biennial series which will be produced in co-operation with the European Commission. Public opinion on pensions is changing. People are realising that a shrinking number of young workers will have trouble paying for more and more pensioners. Time has come to open a frank debate among all members of society and address the question of how the cost of ageing should be distributed in each society. Our publication aims to contribute to this debate by shedding more light on the social and economic implications of pension reform.pensions; retirement; ageing

A framework for overall sustainability assessment of local small-scale energy production - demonstration of an approach

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New and enhanced policy measures for the sustainable use of natural resources in agriculture and forestry

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Modelling the life insurance needs using the human life value revision method

There are numerous methods to determine the appropriate amount of life insurance a person needs ? it can be scientific or simplistic. Many life insurance agents and financial advisors simply rely on traditional rules of thumb using the multiple of income method. The more scientific methods are the needs analysis and the human life value. The needs analysis is regarded as the most commonly used sales tool and the human life value is the most agreed academic expression for the purpose of life insurance. However, there are several weaknesses of using both methods. By using needs analysis as a sales tool, the recommendation amount of life insurance would leave a person underinsured. Similar goes to the human life value method. Nevertheless, both methods can be improved with a few revisions. The post-death needs under the needs analysis must be revised to incorporate the reality that the family's standard of living changes over time. The projection of a changing standard of living is a part of human life value analysis. Therefore, this research looked into both methods and combines both concept of needs analysis and human life value to create a powerful methodology that provide adequate life insurance protection ? a method we name it as 'the Human Life Value Revision Method'

To lead, or not to lead: That is the question. An exploration of understandings of leadership in the context of the deputy principal in the Lutheran secondary school

Twenty first century Lutheran secondary schools operate in a complex and demanding social, historical and theological environment. Leadership needs to be conceptualized in a manner which is appropriate for a fluid, dynamic learning community. Contemporary thinking about school leadership explores concepts such as teacher leadership, shared and distributed leadership. Successful school leadership is also perceived to impact positively on student educational outcomes. The leadership of the deputy principal in many school sectors has traditionally been structured on the basis of a bureaucratic, hierarchical model. Such models are increasingly perceived as unhelpful in the school context, yet in response, little has changed for deputy principals. The purpose of the current study was to consider the situation in Lutheran secondary schools. It explored the understandings about leadership embedded in the current role of the deputy principals. This was achieved by comparison of the participants' perceptions with historical leadership narratives. The key finding of this research is that in Lutheran schools, the leadership role of the deputy is often not as fully developed as would be appropriate in the existing climate, where schools and principals are expected to provide ever expanding services and fulfil multiple purposes. In many schools, the leadership role of the deputy does not provide sufficient training for succession to the principalship. Deputy principals are seen to focus on activity which supports educational leadership, but leaves them on the fringe of it. Deputies are often not involved in major teaching and learning strategic planning, vision and change management. This hinders their preparation for a future role as principal, but also deprives the school of a potentially significant source of leadership activity.;Deputy principals are seen to model the Christian ethos of the school through the way they interact with staff and students and their involvement in the devotional life of the school. However, in-depth involvement in ongoing dialogue about Lutheran identity and the church in the school is usually dependent on the interest and passion of the individual deputies, not inherently demanded by the role. There is also a limited understanding of servant leadership influencing the practice of deputy principals in the schools. In order to maximise the effectiveness of the leadership role of the deputy principals in Lutheran secondary schools, it would be timely to draw together key doctrinal statements, leadership theory and Luther's reflections on vocation, into a cohesive and practical understanding of leadership. This could form the basis for further development of distributed leadership in Lutheran secondary schools and help to ensure that they continue to successfully meet the needs of their communities

Microsimulation and Policy Analysis

We provide an overview of microsimulation approaches for assessing the effects of policy on income distribution. We focus on the role of tax-benefit policies and review the concept of microsimulation and how it contributes to the analysis of income distribution in general and policy evaluation in particular. We consider the main challenges and limitations of this approach and discuss directions for future developments

SUSTAINABLE FUTURES IN A CHANGING CLIMATE : Proceedings of the Conference “Sustainable Futures in a Changing Climate”, 11–12 June 2014, Helsinki, Finland

How does climate change influence our understanding of the future? How can we contribute to creating desirable but possible futures in the era of climate change? The Finland Futures Research Centre’s 16th Annual International Conference ‘Sustainable Futures in a Changing Climate’ focused on presenting current future-oriented research on different aspects of climate change, and thus, the conference contributed to the global field of knowledge sharing concerning climate change. This conference gathered together 140 participants from 21 different countries. During the two days, altogether 67 presentations were held in 11 thematic working groups dealing with various topics. This conference proceedings collects some of the full conference papers presented in the thematic working groups. The articles in this publication are divided to chapters according to the themes of the working groups. Each article in this conference proceedings has gone through a peer review process. We thank all the authors of the articles and the anonymous referees for their valuable contribution to this publication

Analysing Pensions: Modelling and Policy Issues. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 29 November 2012

Pension systems in OECD countries face challenges arising from increases in life expectancy and from downward pressures on public expenditure. Changes to public and private pension systems have effects that are both complex and longlived. Careful analysis is needed to tease out the implications of different reform options. Recognising this, the EU Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion set up a call for research which specifically included models for the analysis of pensions. The first two papers in this volume flow directly from that work, while the third tackles a complementary topic in the pension area

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio