Forced Saving

Book excerpt: Forced Saving, first published in 2001, offers an analysis of pension policy from an economic perspective. It begins with an overview of the problem of population ageing around the world, and then provides a framework within which policy responses may be consistently assessed. It focuses on the 'mandating' approach to retirement income policy, in which governments are compelling individuals - or their employers - to take on this responsibility, at least in part. The role of government becomes limited to one of mandating contributions from wages, along with regulating private fund managers to a greater or lesser extent. The authors explore the implications of introducing such a policy reform. They argue that while there is no universal agreement on the relative costs and benefits of this policy approach, there are often some advantages to moving at least some distance down the mandating path.