The German Public Pension System: How it Was, How it Will Be

Germany still has a very generous public pay-as-you-go pension system. It is characterized by early effective retirement ages and very high effective replacement rates. Most workers receive virtually all of their retirement income from this public retirement insurance. Costs are almost 12% of GDP, more than 2.5 times as much as the U.S. Social Security System. The pressures exerted by population aging on this monolithic system, amplified by negative incentive effects, have induced a reform process that began in 1992 and is still ongoing. This paper has two parts. Part A describes the German pension system as it has shaped the labor market from 1972 until today. Part B describes the reform process, which will convert the exemplary and monolithic Bismarckian public insurance system to a complex multi-pillar system. We provide a survey of the main features of the future German retirement system introduced by the so called “Riester Reform” in 2001 and an assessment in how far this last reform step will solve the pressing problems of the German system of old age provision.

Reforming the German Public Pension System

Chancellor Bismarck introduced public pensions in Germany more than 120 years ago. That system has expanded into one of the most generous pension systems in the world. Most workers receive virtually all of their retirement income from it. Costs are almost 12 percent of GDP, more than 2.5 times as much as the U.S. Social Security System. The pressures exerted by population aging, amplified by negative incentive effects, have induced a reform process that began in 1992 and reached its peak in the 2001 and 2004 reforms. The 2001 reform converted the exemplary monolithic Bismarckian public insurance system into a complex multipillar system. The 2004 reform converted the pay-as-you-go pillar into a quasi notional defined contribution (NDC) system. This paper delivers an assessment in how far these reform steps will solve the pressing pension problems in Germany.

Feeding for Hatchability

The Poultry Industry, since its products were designated as essential foods for the Defense Program by Secretary of Agriculture Wickard, has been expanding to meet the requests for increased production in April, 1941

Vitamins In Poultry Nutrition

The field of knowledge on the subject of vitamins in poultry nutrition has become too broad to be covered adequately in one short paper. The practicing veterinarian is concerned chiefly with the symptoms of the various avitaminoses, differential diagnosis, methods of prevention and practical sources of the various vitamins to be used in either prevention or alleviation of the syndromes of each. In this paper, an attempt will be made to present some of this information in very brief form

How an Unfunded Pension System looks like Defined Benefits but works like Defined Contributions: The German Pension Reform

This paper describes the German pension reform process 1992-2007 with a stress on a remark-able development: the public pay-as-you-go-financed pension system has almost silently moved from a traditional defined benefit system to a system which works in many respects like a defined contribution system. The paper combines economic with political considerations, hopefully offering a few lessons that are useful also for other countries.