Financial Preparedness for Old Age

Public policy goal should be ageing with dignity It implies that a person should be ageing-in-place staying at home to the maximum number of years as possible and have access to a bundle of services especially affordable and accessible health care According to UN projections the number of persons over-60 years of age will increase from 205 million in 1950 to 2 1 billion by 2050 Given the deficiencies of storing current production the only way forward is through claims on future production What matters therefore is the level of output after I have retired The point is central pensioners are not interested in money i e colored bits of paper with portraits of national heroes on them but in consumption food heating medical services seats at concerts etc Money is irrelevant unless the production is there for pensioners to bu

Lessons for Asian Countries from Pension Reforms in Chile

Chile's 1981 reform revolutionized pension design and created a system that was lauded and emulated widely. The main feature of the system was the creation of state-mandated, privately managed individual pension capitalization accounts based on contributions of employees. After nearly three decades of experience, there is a reassessment of the extent to which the pension system has achieved its objectives, particularly with respect to coverage and adequacy. In March 2006, the newly elected President Bachelet set up a Presidential Advisory Council on Pension Reform under the chairmanship of Mario Marcel to evaluate the existing pension system. This paper examines the rationale and the nature of the recommendations made by the Council. The analysis focuses on the structure of the proposed new pension system and risk-sharing implications of different pillars of the system, the accessibility of the existing pension system in terms of coverage, particularly for women and self-employed persons, the impact of reform on transaction costs; investment policies and management and their implications for rates of return and financial market development. The implications of the new system on pension design and policy debate in Asian countries are addressed. The paper suggests that must imbibe lessons from countries such as Chile and urgently undertake the task of constructing sustainable, robust and adequate pension systems and social safety nets.Chile, Asia, Pension Reform

Inequality in Singapore: Requirements for Enhancing the Quality of Public Debate

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The Future of Old Age Income Security

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Metabolic regulation of tissue destruction in tuberculosis

Background: Tuberculosis (TB), the deadliest infection worldwide, causes severe tissue destruction associated with excess inflammation. This process is driven by matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) enzymes regulated by the innate immune response. Patients also experience profound metabolic changes, such as weight loss. TB-infected macrophages show the Warburg effect, a metabolic shift from oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis. However, the relationship between innate inflammation and cellular metabolism in TB is unclear. Materials/methods: Primary monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) or normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBEs) were incubated with specific metabolic inhibitors or transfected with siRNA. Glycolysis was blocked with the hexokinase (HK) inhibitor, 2-deoxyglucose (2DG). Cells were then directly infected with live, virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) H37Rv or stimulated with TB cytokine networks. Protein secretion and expression, gene expression and functional tissue damage were measured by ELISA, luminex, zymography, Western blot, real-time PCR and DQ collagen assay. HK2 immunohistochemistry was performed in samples from a murine TB model and TB patients. Results: HK2 was highly expressed in murine and human tissue sites of TB inflammation. In vitro, 2DG downregulated gene expression and secretion of MMP-1 and the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1b; expression of the hypoxic transcription factor HIF-1a; functional matrix degradation and intracellular bacillary growth. The metabolic regulator AMPK upregulated MMP-1 secretion in TB, while MMP-1 was downregulated by the Pi3-kinase-Akt-mTORC1 signal transduction pathway. Conclusions: MMP-1, HIF-1a and pro-inflammatory cytokines are modulated by glycolysis, AMPK and the Pi3-kinase-Akt-mTORC1 pathway in TB. Immunometabolic regulation of tissue destruction in TB might provide new avenues for host-directed therapies.Open Acces

The pension system in Singapore

Singapore is an affluent city state which finances its social security system through a mandatory, publicly managed, defined contribution system based on individual accounts. The main vehicle embodying this is the Central Provident Fund (CPF). There are two other pension systems operating in Singapore: 1) Non-contributory pension scheme for the government employees; and 2) provident fund scheme for the certain categories of armed forces personnel called the Savings and Employees Scheme. The report makes a thorough assessment of the CPF. Then it is followed by a discussion of reform options which could help provide adequate level of retirement protection to the population in a sustainable manner while maintaining Singapore's international competitiveness for attracting requisite investments, and professional and technical manpower.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Public Sector Economics,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

Social Protection in ASEAN : Challenges and Initiatives for Post 2015 Vision

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Regulating Microfinance: A Suggested Framework

Economic and political weekly45115-1

Market Structure and Challenges for Annuities in India

India will need to develop a robust annuity market if it is to enable its rapidly aging population to address longevity risk. As the fraction aged triples by 2050, driving a huge potential demand for annuity-type products that will need to be matched by responses from annuity providers. Developing a deeper and broader market for annuities will require disaggregated morbidity and mortality databases for better price discovery; supply of financial instruments enabling better matching of assets and long-term liabilities; innovations in annuity products and distribution channels; greater financial literacy, and more robust regulation