This book argues that the implementation of compulsory, highly regulated, privately administered, defined contribution pensions facilitates rent-seeking behaviour on the part of the pension fund administrators and undermines the retirees’ income and well-being. While the book focuses primarily on Chile, its analysis and conclusions are applicable to several Latin American and Eastern European countries where privately administered pension systems have been implemented. Chapters evaluate the scholarly literature and empirical evidence around three aspects of the pension fund industry: structure, pricing and performance. The authors conclude that state regulation has facilitated the accumulation of capital in the hands of the pension fund administrators. They also demonstrate that these systems owe more to the values and principles of conservative philosophy than to neoliberalism in providing alternative solutions to the rent-seeking approach to retirement.

This book addresses the tendency to mischaracterise liberalism as a “neoliberal” reform project, arguing that liberal political philosophy is concerned only to sustain the conditions that make individual freedom possible. This is illustrated with reference to the design of pensions. Considered in terms of liberal justice, retirement systems require redistributive transfers to help the poor, measures to ensure that retirees are rewarded on their merits, and provisions that treat everyone with equal dignity and respect. Rather than presenting liberal pensions as a close analogue to neoliberalism, this volume highlights their egalitarian virtues. This book will appeal to scholars of retirement and pensions, social policy, economics and political philosophy.

This book argues that the implementation of compulsory, highly regulated, privately administered, defined contribution pensions facilitates rent-seeking behaviour on the part of the pension fund administrators and undermines the retirees’ income and well-being. While the book focuses primarily on Chile, its analysis and conclusions are applicable to several Latin American and Eastern European countries where privately administered pension systems have been implemented. Chapters evaluate the scholarly literature and empirical evidence around three aspects of the pension fund industry: structure, pricing and performance. The authors conclude that state regulation has facilitated the accumulation of capital in the hands of the pension fund administrators. They also demonstrate that these systems owe more to the values and principles of conservative philosophy than to neoliberalism in providing alternative solutions to the rent-seeking approach to retirement.

This book addresses the tendency to mischaracterise liberalism as a “neoliberal” reform project, arguing that liberal political philosophy is concerned only to sustain the conditions that make individual freedom possible. This is illustrated with reference to the design of pensions. Considered in terms of liberal justice, retirement systems require redistributive transfers to help the poor, measures to ensure that retirees are rewarded on their merits, and provisions that treat everyone with equal dignity and respect. Rather than presenting liberal pensions as a close analogue to neoliberalism, this volume highlights their egalitarian virtues. This book will appeal to scholars of retirement and pensions, social policy, economics and political philosophy.