Private Pensions versus Social Inclusion?: Non-State Provision for Citizens at Risk in Europe

Over the last decade pension reform in the West has focused upon the need for more private provision in order to combat the effects of societal ageing. The consequences of these reforms for citizens' incomes during retirement are currently under-explored - including questions such as how protective public-private pension systems are, particularly for citizens without lifelong, full-time employment biographies.This rigorous study sheds light on these issues. It assesses the extent to which six European multi-pillar pension regimes are socially inclusive, by micro-simulating retirement income for hypothetical citizens facing typical post-industrial risks. This timely book suggests that non-state provision has significant limitations, yet also identifies the political and institutional conditions under which private pensions are indeed reconcilable with social inclusion. Private Pensions versus Social Inclusion? will appeal to policymakers, scholars and experts from NGOs and other statistical organisations involved in comparative social policy and pension analysis. Post-graduate students of comparative social policy, gerontology, public economics and economic sociology will also find much to engage them within the book.

Table of Contents:
Contents: PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Private Pensions versus Social Inclusion? Citizens at Risk and the New Pensions Orthodoxy Paul Bridgen and Traute Meyer PART II: CASE STUDIES: THE VETERANS 2. The British Pension System and Social Inclusion Paul Bridgen and Traute Meyer 3. The Dutch Pension System and Social Inclusion Duco Bannink and Bert de Vroom 4. The Swiss Pension System and Social Inclusion Fabio Bertozzi and Giuliano Bonoli PART III: CASE STUDIES: THE NEWCOMERS 5. The German Pension System and Social Inclusion Barbara Riedmüller and Michaela Willert 6. The Italian Pension System and Social Inclusion Michele Raitano 7. The Polish Pension System and Social Inclusion Marek Benio and Joanna Ratajczak-Tucholka PART IV: CONCLUSION 8. Private Pensions versus Social Inclusion? Three Patterns of Provision and their Impact Paul Bridgen and Traute Meyer Index

About the Author :
Edited by Traute Meyer, Paul Bridgen, University of Southampton, UK and Barbara Riedmüller, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Review :
'. . . the book offers a subtle and complex overview of the income maintenance and social inclusion challenges associated with the governance of both public and private pension schemes in advanced industrial countries. . . Private Pensions versus Social Inclusion? is an important contribution to the pension literature and a must-read for scholars in the field.' 'This brilliant book makes both a splendid contribution to the pensions debate and represents an important step forward in comparative research on complex policy issues, through its effective use of simulation techniques. . . this book makes a most important contribution to the debate.' 'The book is a sophisticated and informative analysis of pension or welfare regimes. . . well presented and informative and will be of interest to both students and academics who wish to further their understanding of pension systems and the impact of policies in the cited European countries. . . its methodology will be of interest, particularly on the reading list of undergraduate students or as a teaching text on a specific module.' 'Private Pensions versus Social Inclusion? is an excellent book that fills an important gap in the literature on pensions. As governments across Europe expand private pensions as a solution to the financing problems of public pay-as-you-go schemes, there is a large and growing need to investigate the real world effects of these policy shifts. The great strength of this book is its use of different risk biographies to show how the interaction of public and private pension provision influences the retirement income of specific categories of people, not just the "average production worker". The country studies investigate how different pension schemes influence the retirement income of the most common actually-existing risk profiles. The authors' investigation of how marriage, child-rearing, and atypical and part-time employment influence pension income is a considerable achievement. This book is indispensable for scholars and practitioners concerned with pension reform.'