Volume 57, Issue 3

In the former socialist countries, a fundamental shift from the existing “pay-as-you-go” financed pension schemes towards new (and often mandatory) “capital-funded” schemes took place during the last two decades. How did the financial crisis affect these schemes as well as political decisions for further reform? This topic is discussed in detail in the following four papers. The introductory paper outlines several dimensions of the topic as well as major differences between the four countries. The crisis has already had an important impact on pension policy. In the future, the growth in public debt that took place during the crisis will result in additional pressure (beside activities to cope with the process of ageing) to reduce social expenditure.

In 2009, Lithuania suffered very deep recession. The fall in GDP by 15 %, high unemployment, and decreased population earnings all affected the pensions system. Before the recession struck, social insurance expenditures had increased considerably and the reserve fund had been exhausted. The recession resulted in the decreased income of the social insurance system and state. While in 2009, the government attempted to maintain the level of pensions, by 2010, it was forced to cut benefits. This shocking decision raised awareness about some theoretical problems concerning the nature of pensions. Is the social insurance payg pension the property of the retiree, or it is only a part of the working generation income shared via the social insurance system with the retired generation? How should the protection against poverty and income replacement components be combined in the pension system and how should they be financed? How should the payg and funded components be united and what are the roles of the private sector and the government? In this article, Lithuania’s attempts to cope with the recession’s consequences and to respond to these newly posed questions are presented.

In 1999, Poland introduced a radical reform of its retirement pension system. That reform rested on replacing a portion of the pay-as-you-go scheme with a fully funded capital scheme, as well as on withdrawing from a defined-benefit pension formula in favour of equivalent solutions via the introduction of a defined-contribution pension formula. When, in 2008, the global financial crisis disrupted financial markets, the rate of returns on investments from pension funds dropped dramatically. Moreover, the difficult state of public finances started to encumber the further financing of the reform’s transitional period. This brought about a discussion on “reforming the reform” in Poland and led to a reduction of the contribution rate to the funded pillar from 7.3% to 2.3% beginning in May 2011. The recent debate has both touched on and highlighted a range of issues which had not been aired to date.

By 2008, the Hungarian pension system had grown too generous (with the average pension to average net wage ratio equaling 70%) and the implied contribution rate (32%) was hindering growth (dropping to 1% in 2007). When the international economic and financial crisis deprived Hungary of normal credits, the country’s government turned to international organizations for help. The most spectacular element of the conditions attached to the bailout package was the short and long-term reduction of pension benefits. Within months, the Hungarian government eliminated the unsustainable 13 th month benefit, reduced health-insurance contribution rates, replaced wage-price indexation with price indexation and drastically increased the normal retirement age in the medium-run. The newly elected conservative party practically shut down the second pillar and used up the released capital not only to reduce the government deficit and debt but also to finance public expenditures.

This paper addresses the situation in the area of pensions in the Czech Republic up to spring 2011. It starts with a short description of the structure of the pension landscape that differs, for example, from neighbouring countries like Poland or Hungary. In addition to a mandatory public pension scheme there exist additional voluntary private pensions. To put the impact of the financial and economic crisis into a frame, some information is given on the developments before the crisis started, taking into account parametric changes decided upon in summer 2008. Thereafter the impact of the crisis is discussed and the current debate outlined.

Weit verbreitet ist die Vorstellung, die Unternehmerschaft wende sich aus grundsätzlichen Erwägungen gegen eine umfassende sozialpolitische Absicherung der Arbeitslosen, da diese „deaktivierend“ wirke und die Flexibilität am Arbeitsmarkt behindere. Anknüpfend an den „Varieties of Capitalism“-Ansatz wird dieser Auffassung entgegengehalten, dass eine ausgebaute Versicherung in bestimmten Kontexten sogar ökonomisch nützlich sei und folglich auf die Zustimmung der Arbeitgeber stoßen müsste – Deutschland gilt dabei als ein Fall, der diese Hypothese unbedingt bestätigen sollte. Eine Analyse der einschlägigen Arbeitgeberpositionen seit Gründung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland liefert indes wenig Anzeichen für ihre Gültigkeit, im Gegenteil findet die „klassische“ Vermutung eine weitgehende Bestätigung.

Absract Die Armutsgefährdung und die Angewiesenheit auf Leistungen der Grundsicherung von Alleinerziehenden und Paarhaushalten mit Kindern unterscheiden sich erheblich. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wird die Dauer des Bezugs von Grundsicherung nach SGB II von Müttern mit administrativen Daten betrachtet und die Chancen zur Überwindung der Bedürftigkeit mit Verweildauermodellen geschätzt. Es wird untersucht, inwiefern der Kinderbetreuungsaufwand und die individuellen Arbeitsmarktchancen die Ausstiegschancen beeinflussen und wie sich diese Einflüsse zwischen den beiden Haushaltsformen unterscheiden. Der Kinderbetreuungsaufwand schränkt die Chancen zur Überwindung der Bedürftigkeit der Alleinerziehenden stärker als bei Müttern in Paarhaushalten ein. Diese verfügen über einen strukturellen Vorteil, da zwei Erwachsene im Haushalt leben, die Einkommen aus Erwerbstätigkeit erzielen können.