Pension Systems, Demographic Change, and the Stock Market

Product Description Due to the accelerating demographic change of the population the reform of the existing pension systems constitutes one of the greatest political challenges in most European countries. A theoretical discussion of different pension reforms must incorporate not only the demographic aspect but also the role of financial market risk and the impact on production and employment. These notes develop a dynamic macroeconomic model which incorporates these aspects within a flexible theoretical framework. The proposed approach provides a large scale population model and features a sound description of the production side as well as of the financial side of the economy and their interactions with the pension system. Within this framework various adjustment policies of the pension system are studied under different population scenarios. The consequences for the economy and the welfare of consumers are analyzed and compared. Review From the reviews:"The book … studies the implications of the looming demographic transition on pension systems, the stock market and individual welfare. … Readers with an interest in the economic consequences of the looming demographic transition for pension systems and the stock market will find this book very interesting even if they are not doing active research in this area. … The book is a worthy contribution to the literature on pensions and demographic transitions." (Marc-André Letendre, Canadian Studies in Population, Vol. 36 (1-2), Spring/Summer, 2009)