Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T09:41:49.613Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pension reform in the United Kingdom: an economic perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Richard Disney
Richard Disney*
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics, University of Sussex; Visiting Professor of Economics, University College, London; Research Fellow, Institute for Fiscal Studies
*
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper considers the evolution of the UK's pension programme in the light of various stated rationales for public intervention. It argues that the publicly-provided (tax-financed) pension programme has gone through four distinct stages since 1946. It examines some of the issues that have arisen in the context of private pension provision in the UK, both in the form of so-called ‘defined benefit’ and ‘defined contribution’ pension plans, as well as individual purchases of annuities.

Keywords

pension reformemployer-provided pensionsannuitiesH55J32G22
Type
Research Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 237 , August 2016 , pp. R6 - R12
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Banks, J., Crawford, R. and Tetlow, G. (2015), ‘Annuity choices and income drawdown: evidence from the decumulation phase of defined contribution pensions in England’, Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, 14, 4, pp. 412–38.Google ScholarPubMed
Beveridge, W. (1942), Social Insurance and Allied Services, 847, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Bodie, Z., Marcus, A.J. and Merton, R.C. (1988), ‘Defined benefit versus defined contribution pension plans: what are the real trade-offs?’ in Bodie, Z., Shoven, J. and Wise, D. (eds), Pensions in the US Economy, Chicago: Chicago UP for National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozio, A., Crawford, R. and Tetlow, G. (2010), ‘The history of state pensions in the UK, 1948–2010’, Institute for Fiscal Studies Briefing Note No. 105, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannon, E. and Tonks, I. (2004), ‘U.K. annuity rates, money's worth and pension replacement ratios 1957–2002’, Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, 29, 3, pp. 371–93.Google Scholar
Chung, W., Disney, R., Emmerson, C. and Wakefield, M. (2008), ‘Public policy and saving for retirement in the UK’, in Fenge, R., De Menil, G. and Pestieau, P. (eds), Strategies for Pension Reform MIT Press, pp. 169–209.Google Scholar
Crawford, R., Keynes, S. and Tetlow, G. (2014), ‘From me to you: how the UK state pension system redistributes’, Institute for Fiscal Studies Working Paper W14/20: London.Google Scholar
Cribb, J. and Emmerson, C. (2014), ‘Workplace pensions and remuneration in the public and private sectors in the UK’, Institute for Fiscal Studies Briefing Note No. 151, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danzer, A. and Dolton, P. (2012), ‘Total reward and pensions in the UK in the public and private sectors’, Labour Economics, 19, 4, pp. 584–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diamond, P. (1977), ‘A framework for social security analysis’, Journal of Public Economics, 8, pp. 275–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Disney, R. and Emmerson, C. (2005), ‘Public pension reform in the United Kingdom: what effect on the financial well-being of current and future pensioners?’ Fiscal Studies, 26, (March), pp. 55–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Disney, R., Emmerson, C. and Wakefield, M. (2010), ‘Tax reform and retirement saving incentives: take-up of Stakeholder Pensions in the UK’, Economica, 77, April, pp. 213–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Disney, R. and Whitehouse, E. (1992a), The Personal Pension Stampede, London: Institute for Fiscal Studies.Google Scholar
Disney, R. and Whitehouse, E. (1992b), ‘Personal Pensions and the review of the contracting-out terms’, Fiscal Studies, 13 (February), pp. 38–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Disney, R. and Whitehouse, E. (1996), ‘What are occupational pension plan entitlements worth in Britain?’ Economica, 63, May, pp. 213–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einav, L., Finkelstein, A. and Schrimpf, P. (2010), ‘Optimal mandates and the welfare cost of asymmetric information: evidence from the UK annuity market’, Econometrica, 78, 3, pp. 1031–92.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, A. and Poterba, J. (2002), ‘Adverse selection in insurance markets: policyholder evidence from the UK annuity market’, Journal of Political Economy, 112, 1, pp. 183–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finkelstein, A. and Poterba, J. (2004), ‘Selection effect in the United Kingdom individual annuities market’, Economic Journal, 112, 476, pp. 28–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemming, R. and Kay, J. (1981), ‘Contracting-out of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme’, Fiscal Studies, 2, 3, pp. 20–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemming, R. and Kay, J. (1982), ‘The costs of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme’, Economic Journal, 92, 366, pp. 300–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ippolito, R. (1997), Pension Plans and Employee Performance, Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Kritzer, B. (2007), ‘KiwiSaver: New Zealand's new subsidized retirement saving plans’, US Social Security Administration Social Security Bulletin, 67, No.4: Washington DC.Google Scholar
Tinbergen, J. (1952), On the Theory of Economic Policy, Second edition, Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar
World Bank, The (1994), Averting the Old Age Crisis, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar