Can partial retirement help to increase labor supply? Government policy is aimed at allowing older people to work longer. The main measure is to raise the statutory retirement age (the ‘AOW age’). However, not everyone is willing or able to work full-time until the higher statutory retirement age. Can partial retirement be the solution? This article examines how the decisions to retire, work part-time,…

The International Pension Workshop is a wrap. It was three successful days full of meetings and knowledge exchange between different disciplines. This was done through 21 sessions on a variety of topics, 59 paper presentations and discussants, and two keynote speakers. A report on the conference and an interview with two participants: Hazel Bateman and Pierre-Carl Michaud. The conference takes place in Leiden, which…

What was examined in the article? The authors examine the trust of different socioeconomic groups in other people and in public, political and private institutions in the Netherlands. In addition, they look at which person characteristics (of self-employed workers and employees) determine trust in pension funds and the pension system. What are the take-aways from the research? Trust is relevant to the economy and…

“Online tools facilitate choices but do not help participants to oversee the consequences” Offering choice guidance through an online tool is seen as a promising way to provide personalised support to large groups of pension participants. However, it is not yet clear if online tools lead to participants making the same retirement choices as they would with a pension advisor and whether participants understand…

“Technology will only deliver its full potential if ethical challenges are resolved” Financial advice helps consumers to make complex financial decisions. Traditionally, financial advisers have been the main source of this advice. Automated financial advice is an emerging and fast-growing technology that could change how financial advice is provided. However, that would require the resolution of various ethical issues that are associated with this…

“Decision support can activate participants to make appropriate choices” Deciding when to retire – earlier, later or at the retirement age – concerns more than just pension size, life expectancy and desired standard of living. Participants need to understand the consequences of alternatives on offer, as the fuzzy trace theory explains. We therefore preliminarily investigated two new forms of decision support (Value Clarification Method…

On July 1, 2023, the Future Pensions Act entered into force in The Netherlands. The objectives of this law as formulated by the legislator are an earlier perspective of an inflation-linked pension, a more transparent and personal pension and a better alignment with developments in society and the labor market. In the coming period, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment will monitor whether…

“How to deal with purchasing power risks in the benefits of the new Dutch pension contract” In the design of the new Dutch pension contract several instruments are available to deal with expected and unexpected inflation. In this paper we analyze the impact of these instruments. Expected inflation can be compensated by reducing the initial benefit. Unexpected inflation can be covered using the solidarity…

“Protection of pension benefits through personal wealth is more transparent and effective than through the solidarity reserve. It also prevents new pay-as-you-go funding.” When designing new pension plans, much attention is paid to limiting (the risk of) pension reductions. The so-called Ortec method does this by using the solidarity reserve from which pension income is supplemented, if necessary. We propose an alternative method, the…

“Social preferences reflect altruism, reciprocity and self-interest” With the introduction of the new Dutch pension contract, many industry-wide pension funds opt for the solidarity contribution scheme that gives a prominent role to the joint buffer (solidarity reserve). However, to what extent do participants support this buffer and do social preferences in that support exist? We investigated this in a representative survey of participants in…