Winfried Schmähl - Böcker

In this book a distinguished group of contributors discuss the changing political economy of pension reform. They focus on those countries which have launched a significant reframing of their pension system. Each chapter provides a detailed review of recent pension reforms and offers institutional evidence of the extent to which these reforms suggest a redirection of the welfare state towards a more public-private mix of policies. The countries were selected to represent the variety of new directions which mature industrial countries as well as countries in transition have taken.The book brings to light a number of surprising developments. These include the observation that pension systems do not conform to pure models of welfare system regimes; that a number of diverse developments have contributed to the extension of private pensions; that an emerging pattern of substituting private for public pensions can be detected but public provision still dominates in transition economies and that traditional employer-provided private pension schemes are undergoing significant change. One conclusion is that the design of the pension scheme may be more important than the mix of public-private in preventing the growth of inequality among the aged.This important book will be essential reading for scholars of economics, public policy, political science and finance as well as policymakers and practitioners involved in pension system reform.

The transition from central planning in Central and Eastern Europe has resulted in a decline in social security. Transformation of Pension Systems in Central and Eastern Europe provides an in-depth examination of systems of social protection for the elderly.The authors begin by analysing the urgent measures required to respond to a changing economic system. They also consider the fundamental questions of redesigning old-age financial security which is embedded in an international debate on pension reform, taking into account the political and economic factors from a comparative perspective. Covering the Baltic states, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics and Hungary, the development of pension security is traced from the late 1980s to the end of the 1990s. Using local pension experts with academic and administrative backgrounds, the country studies are characterized by a detailed and interdisciplinary perspective, and provide an economic, political, legal and institutional approach to pension systems development.

Fragen der Alterssicherung berühren früher oder später wohl alle Bürger und erlangen immer wieder große politische Bedeutung, und zwar sowohl Leistungen und deren Finanzierung als auch die Organisation der Alterssicherung, ob freiwillig oder verpflichtend, privat oder staatlich. Auf die Alterssicherungssysteme und die Alterssicherungspolitik wirken mannigfache Faktoren ein: ökonomische, politische, zunehmend auch solche aus dem internationalen Umfeld.Winfried Schmähl liefert - basierend auf reichhaltigem Quellenmaterial - eine detaillierte Darstellung der Alterssicherungspolitik in Deutschland. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf der Zeit seit 1945, beginnend mit der Situation in den Besatzungszonen in der BRD und DDR, die sich immer weiter auseinanderentwickelten. Schließlich geht er ausführlich auf den Prozess der deutschen Wiedervereinigung ein wie auch auf das sich daran anschließende Jahrzehnt. Unabdingbar ist dafür aber auch der Blick auf die "Vorgeschichte", die seit Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts im Kaiserreich, in der Weimarer Republik und schließlich während der Nazi-Herrschaft zu wichtigen Weichenstellungen im deutschen Alterssicherungssystem führte. Im Zentrum der Darstellung stehen nicht etwa nur die Ergebnisse politischen Handelns, sondern die Prozesse, die zu bestimmten Entscheidungen führten, Ziele und Handlungen staatlicher und privater Akteure sowie Auswirkungen auf die Einkommenslage der Bürger und auf öffentliche Haushalte und Unternehmungen. Der Band endet mit der Bundestagswahl vom Herbst 1998, deren Ergebnis bald zu einer grundlegenden Umorientierung der deutschen Alterssicherungspolitik führte und in einem Folgeband behandelt werden soll.

Past and future development as well as possibilities for influencing the process of retirement are discussed, in particular effects on the labour market (supply and demand, behaviour of workers and firms, concerning human resource management and occupational pensions), financing of social security and income of workers. Decisions concerning earlier or postponed, full or partial retirement are the main topic stressing the central role of firms' decisions depending e.g. on their view of the productivity of the elderly. Reports on Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland) in particular on their approach for partial retirement are included as well as papers discussing possibilities to stop the trend of early exit from the labour force and how to give incentives for a longer working life (e.g. by changes in social security). These topics are discussed in the view of structural changes in demography, economy and society, using - among other - the US and West Germany as examples. The papers point out the necessity to look at retirement as a process (in a life cycle perspective, requiring longitudinal data for empirical research) and in a perspective integrating the different aspects involved.