Several Eastern European and Eurasian countries have undertaken funded pension reforms in an attempt to lower the public fiscal burden of long term retirement payouts. While raising the retirement age has proved difficult due to political unpopularity, many countries (including Russia, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, among others) have enacted some type of reform to implement mandatory contribution-based (investment saving) pension schemes to supplement public systems. The experiences have varied widely with some notable successes and some major reversals. The reasons for these differing experiences will be discussed in the context of the fiscal, financial, social and political constraints that some of the reforms have generated. As well, the question of who owns contribution based funded schemes (the state, or the individual) is not only entirely obvious based on reform reversals in some countries, which would be seen as private property issues in others. The experiences of several CEE and Eurasian countries provides lessons of what to do and not to do, to ensure a lasting reform. As well, in many countries, the contribution based mandatory savings system ends up investing in government bonds, thus providing a paradox as to whether the state is effectively still funding these systems. These, and other issues will be explored in this discussion and provide participants a view of which policy options in this area should be considered taking into account recent lessons of experience in these countries.
John Pollner
was Lead Financial Officer and Lead Financial Sector Economist for the Financial Sector, in Europe and Central Asia and Latin American and Caribbean regions of the World Bank. He is now an independent consultant. He specializes in policy & technical analysis and structuring financial solutions, research & technical advice, and project operations in Eastern Europe and Latin America, involving (a) funded pension systems & annuities markets (b) bond investor infrastructure financing with guarantees, (c) banking insolvency, resolution and restructuring, (d) capital market alternative assets and securitization, and (e) catastrophe insurance programs for hedging losses from natural peril risks. Mr. Pollner also worked at the International Monetary Fund undertaking monitoring of economic reform programs with monetary targets and capital account financing gaps. Mr. Pollner is a national of both the US and Chile, a University of California, Berkeley Alumnus, and has published reports on funded pensions in Eastern Europe, capital markets and banking in Russia and Argentina, disaster insurance in the Visegrad-4 countries, infrastructure bond finance in Argentina, and bank resolution and deposit insurance in Poland.
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
4:00-5:00 pm
Voesar Conference Room, Suite 412
Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E St NW
