Targeting is an important aim of social policy. Three case studies in this paper reflect typical short-comings in the targeting design of pension reforms. The first case study examines how well work disability and receipt of disability insurance match in Germany. We show that the 2001 reform has not systematically improved target quality. The second case study examines whether the 2014 introduction of a new pathway of early retirement without actuarial adjustments has reached individuals who are less healthy because they have worked a long time in an arduous job. We find that the target population is actually healthier than the comparison group. Third, a much discussed supplemental pension benefit for households in the risk of poverty will miss its target population in both relevant directions: Regarding the first, 23% of those pensioners who are not eligible are nevertheless poor in the sense of the new law. Regarding the other direction, 21% of the eligible pensioners belong to the wealthier half of German pensioners. Since similar reforms are currently debated in many European countries, the three German case studies may serve as examples of how to better target public pension policies.

Many EU countries have been carrying out substantial state pension reforms since the mid-1990s. This article studies whether the reforms that were carried out in ten EU countries before and after the 2008 financial crisis are different. This is done through an analysis of the different elements of these reforms and also by comparing pension entitlements after each set of reforms. The main conclusion is that the pre-crisis reforms were much stronger and had a more negative impact on women than the post-crisis reforms. It is harder to determine whether this represents a temporary break in the reform process or a permanent change in the orientation of pension reforms in these ten countries.

We generalise the standard joy-of-giving bequest motive by including inter vivos gifts. Within a life-cycle framework, we analyse the implications of the choice of different discount factors for the utility of gifts and bequests. For a linear utility of giving, we characterise the gift and bequest pattern of a liquidity constrained individual over the life-cycle. We find that discounting at the interest rate is very convenient as the linear utility parameter can be interpreted as a summary measure for the strength of the motive of giving, net of all gift and bequest timing issues over the life-cycle.