Journal articles on the topic 'Premium Pension System'

[full article and abstract in English] The aim of this study is to compare Lithuanian and Swedish pension systems from the point of view of their design and performance in order to elaborate reasonable recommendations to Lithuanian pension policy based on the best Swedish experience. Swedish income, premium and guaranteed old-age pensions system are compared with the analogous Lithuanian system of the “first,” “second” pillars and the “social” pensions. The main features of the systems are discussed, and the performance of the systems, mainly from the point of view of adequacy, is compared. The differences in system design and performance are identified, and the possible reasons of these differences are examined. Special attention is paid to differences in financing and the approach to the definition of benefits. The Lithuanian pension points approach is compared to the Swedish Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) approach. Each system is analyzed, and the relevance of transforming the Lithuanian first pillar pensions into a NDC system is examined.

The pension system existing in Ukraine does not correspond to the modern requirements of society and needs radical reforms in which the main focus should be on the introduction of a mandatory accumulative pension system. It is shown that accumulation of funds in accumulative pension system (APS) requires complex calculations. A model for accumulation of funds in the accumulative pension insurance system used in this paper makes it possible to determine a set of interrelated parameters – insurance premium rates, reasonable insurance periods, the desired rates of profitability, the required amount of savings, investment potential of accumulative pension system, etc. The amount of funds in accumulative pension insurance system depends not only on the basis of insurance (number of payers of insurance premiums), the amount of contributions (rate and object) and (primarily) on the term of beginning of payments of insurance premiums, the coefficient of profitability of invested funds and guarantees of their safety at all stages of functioning of the accumulative system. The analysis has shown that it is necessary: to cover all people employed in the economy with accumulative pension insurance; a rate of contributions should be determined not only by wages, but also by income; prior to the introduction of accumulative pension system – to create the necessary infrastructure, to develop a legal framework, to organize the management of accumulative funds, to solve the issues related to the protection of funds from the risks of losses. The beginning of introduction of the accumulative system should be postponed till 2020.

AbstractDuring the last few years, it has been revealed that Allra, a company that operated within the Swedish premium pension system, has acted reprehensively. In 2017 it was reported that Allra´s funds were expensive with mediocre growth and that owners at Allra benefitted at the expense of premium pension holders. Furthermore, Allra maintained subsidiaries in low tax jurisdictions that reduced tax revenues of the Swedish state and contributed to cash outflow. While this article was being written, Allra was also accused of potentially illegal transactions with a company named Oak Capital and suspected of overseeing illegal transactions between its subsidiaries in Luxembourg and Dubai. It is assumed that these transactions were made to enrich the shareholders of Allra. The current study, however, is disinterested in establishing Allra’s criminal guilt. Instead, it focuses on the role that private actors and state authorities have played in Allra’s harmful actions and potentially illegal transactions that have harmed premium pension holders and Swedish citizens. Using a theoretical framework proposed by Diane Vaughan (1983), the study explores issues of social structure and social relations. This is done in order to determine whether the social structure has played an important role in facilitating harm and whether states can be considered involved in this and, if so if it can be considered a case of state-corporate crime. The study concludes that states have been important for upholding and promoting the social structure and that the case can, therefore, be considered an example of statecorporate crime. However, since shareholders in leading positions in Allra have benefitted by using Allra as a tool, it is suggested that the concept of statecorporate crimes be broadened to include individuals and their self-interests.

In this paper, we propose a stochastic method to project the public pension fund in the public pension system (PPS). For this we introduce the stochastic differential equations for the three parts: the premium revenue, the benefit expenditure, and the fund process. From these we show that the solution of the aggregated fund process is the sum of log-normals, which is approximated as one log-normal for the analytic result. Related to the parameter estimations, we implement the moment matching in the first moment. For the second moment, we apply the extreme value method following Parkinson. In order to follow Parkinson, we take the maximum and the minimum range of the fund amount based on the various sensitivity result as well as the baseline one from the deterministic projection result. In this reason, it is naturally to maintain the close interrelation with the deterministic projection result, which is very important since it is still key result in the actuarial valuation of the PPS.

The study of current practices in the legal regulation of social and labour relations in the BRICS countries indicates the need to ensure equal treatment of migrant workers with national workers. Discriminatory barriers to migrant workers accessing social security systems contained in the legislation of receiving countries (the legal status of the migrant, duration of stay and other). The legislation of the country of origin of migrant workers also excludes them from the social security systems. Foreign nationals, residing temporarily in Russia, are subject to compulsory pension insurance. The payment of insurance contributions allows establishing a certain amount of pension rights. However, they often do not acquire the right to insurance, since the insurance pension is granted only to foreign nationals permanently resident in Russia. Basic old-age insurance, basic medical insurance, work injury insurance, unemployment insurance, and maternity insurance extend to foreigners legally working in China. In Brazil, foreign workers are insured under the General Social Security Regime. However, it establishes progressive premium rates. In India, international employees are required to be registered as members of the Employees’ Provident Fund and to contribute to it. Foreign nationals, who have entered South Africa to work under a contract of employment and who have been forced to leave the Republic, are not covered by the social security. It is therefore essential to design and implement policies that will strengthen the sustainability of the social security system and eliminate discriminatory norms between labor migrants and national workers.

The system of early retirement pensions was inherited from the USSR and every third Russian pensioner receives a preferential pension. It is assigned to metallurgists, oil workers, coal miners, ballerinas, trolleybus drivers, teachers - the lists of early retired pensioners are huge. The conduction of pension reform involved seeking resources within the system itself. To solve the problem of financing preferential pensions, a system of early non-state pension provision was created, implemented through non-state pension funds. However, the existing legislative regulation does not stimulate employers of hazardous and dangerous industries to create corporate pension programs due to the fact that they will not exempt employers from paying additional insurance premiums in favor of employees on preferential lists. As a result, there are no employers in the country who will not only pay wages on time, transfer insurance premiums in a timely manner, but for this category in an increased amount, but will also form additional contributions for the same employees under the early non-state pension system. The non-state pension paid in the frame of this system does not replace the early insurance old-age pension, that is, it does not entail a decrease in federal budget costs. The purpose of this study is to consider the main legal acts and the process of development of legislation on early non-state pension provision. The result of the study is practical proposals for improving the legal framework of the early retirement pension system.

Many argue that public school systems should stop linking teachers’ salaries so closely to their years of experience. However, the effect of deferred retirement compensation on the premium paid to experienced teachers has, to date, been underappreciated. To shed more light on this issue, we calculate the total compensation earned by teachers in New York City and Philadelphia from both salary and deferred retirement compensation under each system’s currently operating defined-benefit plan. Retirement compensation in both cities is back-loaded, which substantially increases the premium paid to highly experienced teachers. In late-career years, teachers often earn a larger compensation premium from the accrual of pension benefits than from salary. We show that cash-balance retirement plans, which are less back-loaded, would substantially reduce experience premiums without reducing the total compensation for the average entering teacher.

Ukraine has been reforming its pension provision for a long time, and in particular, such an important component as compulsory state pension insurance. The changes that have taken place as a result of these reforms have not yielded adequate results, and serious problems continue to exist regarding the balancing and long-term financial stability of the budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. Therefore, the study of the processes taking place in the solidarity system of pension insurance and the search for solutions to problems in this area is extremely relevant. The purpose of the study is to identify trends in the development of compulsory state pension insurance in Ukraine and substantiate its role in providing disabled citizens with adequate pension protection. The article is devoted to the study of the current state of compulsory state pension insurance and substantiation of its role in providing disabled citizens with decent pension benefits. The analysis of incomes, expenses and deficit of the Pension Fund of Ukraine is carried out, their comparison in national and foreign currencies is carried out. It is established that nominal revenues to the Pension Fund of Ukraine and its expenditures tended to increase, but when they were converted into foreign currency there was a decrease in these indicators (except for 2013), which indicates contradictory trends related to the depreciation of income and fund expenses. It has been proven that the Pension Fund of Ukraine constantly lacks its own funds to meet its pension obligations, as a result of which significant budgetary resources are absorbed and the majority of pensioners are not provided with decent pension benefits. Factors influencing the deficit of the Pension Fund of Ukraine have been identified. It is concluded that the problem of low pensions is largely a consequence of the general economic conditions in the country and to a lesser extent - a consequence of the structure or functioning of the solidarity system itself. After all, the basis for calculating insurance premiums is wages, which are low for most employees. Factors that negatively affect the functioning of the state pension insurance have been identified and measures to overcome them have been identified.

The article substantiates the relevance of issues related to the functioning of social protection systems for the population of developed countries. The review and analysis of the modern pension system in Japan is made. The mechanism of recognition of Japanese citizens and foreign citizens residing in it as insured persons of a certain category and the mechanism of functioning of individual subsystems of the pension insurance system (in particular, basic pension, employee pension insurance, optional (additional) pension insurance system) are considered. The data on the absolute amounts and rates of insurance premiums, the formulas by which the monthly pension is calculated, and the conditions that must be met by insured persons to acquire the right to a pension (for old age, for disability, for the loss of a breadwinner) are given. The conditions for receiving and the amount of benefits for dependents and child benefits are indicated. The review and analysis of the modern health insurance system in Japan is made. The mechanism of functioning of individual subsystems of the pension insurance system (in particular, insurance at the place of work, insurance at the municipal level, insurance for persons aged 75 and over) is considered. The data on the absolute amounts and rates of insurance premiums, on the specifics of fi nancing the activities of public and private organizations, which, on the basis of the principles of non-commercial activity, provide medical services to the population of Japan are presented. The conditions for receiving and the amount of benefits for the birth of a child, for a funeral, for temporary disability are indicated. Attention is drawn to the distinctive features of the pension and health insurance systems in Japan. It is proposed to use the Japanese experience to reform the national systems of social protection of the population.

ABSTRACTAmong the systems in place in different countries for the protection of the population against the long-term contingencies of old-age (or retirement), disability and death (or survivorship), defined-benefit social security pension schemes, i.e. social insurance pension schemes, by far predominate, despite the recent trend towards defined-contribution arrangements in social security reforms. Actuarial valuations of these schemes, unlike other branches of insurance, continue to be carried out almost exclusively on traditional, deterministic lines. Stochastic applications in this area, which have been restricted mainly to occasional special studies, have relied on the simulation technique. This paper develops an analytical model for the stochastic actuarial valuation of a social insurance pension scheme. Formulae are developed for the expected values, variances and covariances of and among the benefit expenditure and salary bill projections and their discounted values, allowing for stochastic variation in three key input factors, i.e., mortality, new entrant intake, and interest (net of salary escalation). Each deterministic output of the valuation is thus supplemented with a confidence interval, that is, a range with an attached probability. The treatment covers the premiums under the different possible financial systems for these schemes, which differ from the funding methods of private pensions, as well as the testing of the level of the Fund ratio when the future contributions schedule is pre-determined. Although it is based on a relatively simplified approach and refers only to retirement pensions, with full adjustment in line with salary escalation, the paper brings out the stochastic features of pension scheme projections and illustrates a comprehensive stochastic valuation. It is hoped that the paper will stimulate interest in further research, both of a theoretical and a practical nature, and lead to progressively increasing recourse to stochastic methods in social insurance pension scheme valuations.

The steady budget deficit of the Pension Fund of Ukraine necessitates balancing its budget and finding effective opportunities to improve the current pension system. The revenue and expenditure part of the budgets of the Pension Fund for the last 7 years has been analyzed, time series characterizing various aspects of its activity have been constructed, polynomial modeling of trend series of revenues and expenditures has been carried out. To improve the actuarial basis of the joint pension system, it has been suggested to segregate social pensions, which are not provided by insurance premiums, and therefore cannot be the object of insurance payments, but should be subject to state (budget) funding. The shadow sector of the economy and the arrears of enterprises for the payment of salary to employees have been identified as a significant factor in the disproportion of the budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, measures to respond to these violations have been identified and analyzed. Relevant recommendations included a revision of the institutional position on limiting the amount of salaries on which SSC (single social contribution) is accrued, the redistribution of relevant contributions between employees and employers, and the harmonization of the accrual base with the average salary. Further research is recommended to focus on the peculiarities of balancing the revenues and expenditures of the budget of the Pension Fund in the case of entrusting it with the functions of other social insurance funds of Ukraine, as well as in connection with the introduction of the second level of pension provision.

The article deals with the system of mandatory state insurance, types of insurance premiums to non-budgetary funds of the Russian Federation and features of their payment by entrepreneurs who carry out their activities without employing employees in the status of individual entrepreneurs and self-employed. The procedure for calculating and paying mandatory insurance premiums by individual entrepreneurs «for themselves» is analyzed. The expediency and procedure of registration of self-employed persons as insurers in the pension system of the Russian Federation for payment of insurance premiums on a voluntary basis in order to form a future insurance pension is considered.

Comparative characteristics of the economic categories «Employee benefits», «pension plans», «Wages», «insurance premiums» are given. A historical study of the formation and development of the pension system in Russia and the issues of pension provision for agricultural workers has been conducted. Further prerequisites for this development are identified.

Due to the introduction of the digital economy on the territory of the Russian Federation and the urgency of the problem of implementing the distributed registry system (Blockchain) in various financial spheres, including the system of accounting for pension rights and obligations in the state and non-state pension systems, an attempt was made to assess the principles of implementing the Blockchain mechanism in the system of accounting for pension rights, insurance premiums and pension payments. The current system of centralized registries is based on the full confidence of its participants-clients. In particular, persons insured in the pension system. The non-transparency of the non-state pension component and the periodic changes in the state pension system seriously undermine this trust of citizens. Thus, the system of distributed registries that will solve this problem operates on the principles of transparency, availability for verification, reliability (security of transactions), economy, and trust on the part of customers. The article also considers the problem of formation and distribution of the accumulative pension component. The analysis of its losses and features of transfer to different pension organizations - participants of the state pension insurance system is carried out. It is proposed to solve the problems associated with these processes by implementing a system of distributed registries and smart contracts. In conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of the distributed registry system are presented, as well as the difficulties of its implementation in the near future in the pension system of the Russian Federation are analyzed.

In recent years, revenues and expenditures of the PFR budget are constantly growing, and their growth is about the same magnitude. The decrease in revenues in 2014 was due to a decrease in allocations from the Federal budget, as well as a change in the legislation on compulsory pension insurance, in accordance with which it was decided to send all insurance contributions at the individual rate to finance the insurance part of the labor pension. Since 2014, there has been a stable deficit. According to forecast data, the budget for the next years is also planned to be deficit. Taking into account that the state pension provision is planned and financed by the target method at the expense of allocations, it can be stated that the deficit of the PFR budget is associated with a shortage of incoming insurance contributions for the payment of insurance pensions. This may be due to the following reasons: a significant increase in the number of old-age pensioners with a relatively stable working-age population; insufficient income in the form of insurance contributions (informal wages, shadow business); lack of alternative sources of funding. With the first problem, the Russian Government decided to fight by an unpopular method - to reduce the increase in the number of pensioners by increasing the retirement age. This, in our view, exacerbates the existing problem of public distrust in the pension system in general and in the pension policy in particular. That in turn, among other factors, is the cause of the second problem - the growth of "gray" wages and unpaid insurance premiums. Thus, these problems need to be solved radically, which requires considerable time and a serious elaborated pension policy of the Government of the Russian Federation. It is proposed to use the issue of a pension bond loan as a measure in the operational management of the pension cash gap and strategic management of the budget deficit of the PFR.

The purpose of the paper is to generate practical recommendations on the prospects of life insurance development under reforming the pension insurance system in Ukraine. Methodology. In the article, a considerable attention is paid to international experience, the implementation of which is relevant for Ukraine today. In determining the place of life insurance in European pension systems, the experience of Spain and the United Kingdom is considered, which is sufficiently indicative for Ukraine and can serve as a model for reforming the national pension system. Methodological basis of the article are methods of scientific cognition, which enable to expose basic conformities to the law of development of the pension systems in this countries and place of life insurance in them. Such methods are in particular used as: analysis and synthesis – during the study of reforming pension systems, their detailed analysis and definition of their peculiarities; scientific abstraction – with the purpose of forming of theoretical generalizations and conclusions; also, the method of scientific synthesis, forecasting method, econometric modelling for forecasting the development of life insurance in Ukraine up to 2020. Results. The pension insurance system of Ukraine is at the stage of reformation by introducing compulsory accumulation of pension funds and the development of voluntary non-state pension insurance. The main financial intermediaries providing voluntary pension accumulation services in Ukraine are: banks – through the possibility of saving on retirement deposits, insurance companies – through life insurance products, and non-state pension funds (NPFs) – through the voluntary participation of citizens in such funds. The article discusses the key differences in the activity of the given subjects in the system and also determines the place of life insurance itself in the system of pension insurance in Ukraine. Practical significance. Having considered the key macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine’s economic development, the article predicts the volume of investments into NPFs and insurance premiums for life insurance companies using econometric methods; the benefits and prospects of life insurance are determined. Practical recommendations on the prospects of life insurance development under reforming the pension insurance system in Ukraine are formulated. Value/originality. The modelling of the development of the non-state level of the pension system of Ukraine allowed determining the dynamics of growth of contributions to life insurance companies and contributions to the NPFs in 2017-2020 and drawing a conclusion on the positive prospects for the development of the life insurance market in Ukraine and its special role in the successful reformation of Ukraine’s pension system.

The article deals with the scheme “tax maneuver” and its practical implementation. This is a continuation of research on tax reforms as part of a new political cycle. The government is serious disagreement about the tax maneuver. The scheme of “21 to 21” assumes that 21% - this is the premiums that are paid to the Pension Fund, Social Insurance Fund and the MLA fund, and 21% - VAT. In this case, the present VAT 18% increase by 3 percentage points, while the rate of insurance contributions, by contrast, will be reduced from 30 to 21%. In the scheme of “21 to 21” Pension Fund will receive less revenue from insurance premiums and will have to receive more subsidies from the federal budget. Thus, the costs of the pension system at all times will compete with other spending budget. According to some bold proposals should be built into the budget system of the Pension Fund. This proposal was so radical that it’s not fully supported within the government and is now being discussed. The previous sentence was a scheme of “22 to 22”: it is more neutral and does not lead to a decrease in revenues. But it also finds direct support in the government.

In this paper, we offer an explanation to pension systems cyclical reforms, based on Central East Europe (CEE) countries experience over the last three decades. We claim that in the transition to funded pension design, the government not only transfers longevity and fiscal risks to the individualbut also absorbs risks transferred from the public, where each market actor transfers undiversifiable risks to the other. This hidden risk path that has not been discussed yet in the literature, stemmed from the public expectation to risk premium or adequate old age benefits that evolves to political pressure. The outcomes of this risk path realized in financial transfers, such as social security, means-tested and minimum pension guarantee. Consequently, funded pension designs naturally converge to a new landscape paradigm of risk sharing, including intergenerational and intra-generational play. Financial crises such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic foster the convergence process.

The financial support of the compulsory pension insurance system in Russia is receiving much attention both in government and in scientific circles. During economic crises, the load on the country's social sphere increases, which leads to an exacerbation of the unresolved problems of the Russian pension insurance system, arousing in society an increased interest in finding various ways of its development. The purpose of the study was to substantiate the need for additional sources of pension funding, as well as to improve the approach to taxation of incomes of various population categories. The study was based on the analysis of the mechanism for forming the financial resources of the compulsory pension insurance system. It featured theoretical and applied aspects of the pension insurance funding system in Russia. The author reviewed relevant publications by Russian authors, who offered various solution of the above-mentioned problem. The paper focuses on the sources of the budget revenues of the Pension Fund and the main parameters of the mechanism for collecting insurance contributions for compulsory pension insurance. The author defined such problem areas as the dependence of the Pension Fund budget on subsidies from the federal budget and the regressive tariff scale for insurance contributions. The article also contains a comparative analysis of the tax burden on wages in Russia and in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Any further development of the system of pension insurance financial support should be aimed at eliminating the regressive nature of the collection of insurance premiums, as well as at differentiating the values of the tax rate for personal income tax depending on the level of income of the taxpayer.

AbstractThe Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insures private sector defined benefit (DB) pension plans, when an employer becomes insolvent and is unable to pay the pension liabilities. In principle, the insurance premiums collected by PBGC should be sufficient to cover potential losses; this would ensure that PBGC could pay the insured benefits of terminated pension plan without additional external funding (e.g., from taxpayers). Therefore, the risk exposure of the PBGC from insuring DB pension plans arises from the probability of the employer insolvencies; and the terminating plans’ funding status (the excess of the value of the insured plan liabilities over the plan assets). Here we explore only the second component, namely the impact of plan underfunding for the operation of the PBGC. When a DB plan is fully funded, the PBGC's risk exposure for an ongoing plan is low even if the plan sponsor becomes insolvent. Thus the questions most pertinent to the PBGC are: what key risk factors can produce underfunding in a DB plan, and how can these risk factors be quantified? We discuss the key risk factors that produce DB pension underfunding, namely, investment risk and liability risk. These are interrelated and must be considered simultaneously in order to quantify the risk exposure of a DB pension plan. We propose that an integrated risk management model (an Integrated Asset/Liability Model) can help better understand DB pension plan funding risk. We also examine the Pension Insurance Modeling System developed by the PBGC in terms of its own use of some of the building blocks of an integrated risk management model.

In the U.S., the geometric return on stocks has been higher than the geometric return on bonds over long periods. We study whether balanced portfolios have a larger geometric return (and expected log return) than stock portfolios when the risk premium is low. We use a theoretical model and historical data and find that this is the case. This low-risk premium is often observed in other developed countries. Further, in the past two decades, a balanced portfolio with 70% or 90% invested in the U.S. stock market (with the remainder invested in U.S. government bonds) performed better than a 100% stock or bond portfolio. The reason for this is that a pure stock portfolio loses a large fraction of its value in a downturn. We show that this result is not driven by outliers, and that it occurs even when the returns are log normally distributed. This result has broad policy implications for the construction of pension systems and target-date mutual funds.

The long-term sustainability and stability of the pension insurance system can be provided on the basis of a pay-as-you-go system, specifically the NDC variant, which can combine the main type of solidarity (between those who can and want to be gainfully active and those for whom the insured event has occurred) with income solidarity. When reforming the pension system in this manner the opportunity arises to begin gradual changes through fully merit system reform and therefore significantly motivating of extending the period of productivity (putting off retirement) through the upgrade of this system for persons who have reached the retirement age as specified by law.This paper aims to substantiate and explore possible changes in this direction that will not endanger anyone’s entitlements when the reforms are implemented (they have got the form of Pareto improvement), as they derive their funds by extending the time of individual productivity. To this end, the possibility of introducing an extension on top of current system of pay-as-you-go insurance, which could be entered voluntarily by persons who have already reached or are near statutory retirement age, is proposed, and modeled. The extension would operate on the principle that the paid premiums will be transformed into a lifetime annuity. The system would be significantly motivating which for most people means extending life at the fullest, associated with the option to retain beneficial social contacts and gradually relax their gainful activity without experiencing an untoward decrease in income.

On the Need for Prevention in the Pension System on the Example of the Demographic Reserve Fund The subject of this paper is the Demographic Reserve Fund (DRF) which was established following the November 11th 1998 legal act of on the system of social security. The goal of the paper is the analysis and diagnosis of as well as the forecast for the Fund's demand for the financial means that have emerged after ageing demographic boom generation started entering the retirement age. The forecast is based on the assumptions referring to the demographic, social and economic situation of the country. These assumptions particularly refer to fertility, mortality, economic growth, earnings growth, migration, inflation, unemployment rate, structure of the population with respect to occupational groups and groups being beyond the labor force, indicators of valorization of premiums paid and services from social security, etc.

While in America most people think of “welfare” as means-tested programs such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, in reality in the United States and other affluent democracies the heart of the welfare state is social insurance programs, such as health insurance, old-age or retirement pensions, and unemployment insurance. They are insurance programs in the sense that they protect against common risks of a loss of income if and/or when certain events come to pass (illness, old-age or retirement, unemployment); they are “social” because unlike market insurance they are not run on a sound actuarial basis, the premiums are not voluntarily incurred but compulsory, and there is very limited choice or flexibility concerning the type of policy one can purchase. Why have social insurance rather than market insurance? In this essay, I take up this question with regard to old-age or retirement pensions, which at present absorb around 9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 25 percent of government spending of the affluent industrial countries comprising the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). My aim is to show that old-age or retirement social insurance (henceforth “SI”) is worse in virtually every relevant normative respect than its alternative, some form of market or private pensions. By relevant normative respect, I mean those values or principles which are used by contemporary political philosophers in their discussions and justifications of welfare-state policies, and which are applicable to assessments of different systems of old-age or retirement pensions. (Although they are applicable, almost no contemporary political philosophers have in fact applied them—an amazing state of affairs which I hope to remedy here.)

On the theoretical basis of the "generational economy" the article describes the "model of overlapping generations" and "life cycle model" as the cause of the existence of intergenerational transfers. The classification of approaches to their study is carried out. Based on the exchange model (the concept of childbearing as a long-term investment in future transfers from adult children to elderly parents) and the theory of substitutions (crowding out private transfers by public social systems), the "elderly security hypothesis" is highlighted as a possible socio-economic reason for the demographic transition. Based on the works of A. Cigno, a theoretical review of this theory is made using the concepts of ^substitution effect» and «free rider effect». According to the works of R. Fenge and B. Scheubel, the "income effect" and "price effect" are defined as the key parameters for testing this hypothesis. An overview of the existing scientific and practical works on the topic of research is made, highlighting methods and results on the following examples: Italy after World War II, Germany at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Brazil in 1991-2000, Hungary in 19502006, 34 OECD countries in the 1990s and the consolidated data for 121 countries at present. The author has carried out his own empirical test of the «hypothesis of elderly security» in the countries of the world on the basis of UN and OECD statistics. Coverage, social security spending, replacement rate, mandatory premium rate, and an increased risk of poverty among older people support the safe aging theory of upward intergenerational transfers from children to parents. But the internal rate of return of pension systems and the average income of older people support the competing hypothesis of top-down intergenerational transfers from parent to child. It is concluded that, with a relatively low standard of living of population, intergenerational transfers go from children to parents, but when a certain level of national welfare is reached, the movement of transfers changes to the opposite direction.

FDI brings up the capital inflows from abroad which is invested in the production capacity of the economy and are preferred as external finance because they are non-debt creating, non-volatile and their returns depend on the performance of projects financed by investors. It expedites international trade and transfer of information and technology. Thus, ‘FDI acts as a catalyst for the growth nation’. The Indian insurance market is expected to grow up to 125 percent in the next decade which would indirectly be a boost for the Indian Economy. Increased FDI limit up to 100 percent will allow more new players to enter and strengthen the existing companies. This will promote higher competition, innovative products, digital distribution channels and cheaper policy premium for their customers. Therefore, this paper primarily focuses on the FDI in the Insurance sector in India and its significance. In the Budget 2015-16 the government announced, three ambitious Social Security Schemes about Insurance and Pension Sector (a) PradhanMantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (b) PradhanMantri JeevanJyoti Yojana and (c) Atal Pension Yojana. These schemes help to create universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor and underprivileged. The health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat will provide good quality health care up to Rs.5 lakh per family per year at government and private hospitals all over India. This scheme will be available for 50 crore Indians and covers 10.74 beneficiaries. In this backdrop, this article aims to analyze the performance of Non-life Insurance sector in India after the increase of FDI from 26 percent to 49 percent (which has come into force from 16 March 2016).

This paper analyzes the micro and macroeconomic effects of pension reform by a consumption tax hike by using an overlapping-generations model that is primarily based on Groezen, Leers and Mejidam (2003). Although Groezen, Leers and Mejidam (2003) consider pay-as-you-go pension in a model of a small open economy, they do not analyze physical capital accumulation, assume that public pension is financed only by the intergenerational transfer of national pension premiums, and ignore consumption tax as a public pension resource. This study considers pay-as-you-go pension in a closed economy model and assumes that public pensions are financed by both consumption taxes and national pension premiums. In addition, although Groezen, Leers and Mejidam (2003) consider a model with endogenous fertility, this analysis uses a model with exogenous fertility based on Verbon (1988) and Breyer (1989). Subsequently, we consider the micro and macroeconomic effects of the policy that increases the consumption tax rate compared to the effects of increases under a national pension system. We find that even if the population growth rate is negative, both a consumption tax hike and increases in people’s national pension premiums surprisingly promote physical capital accumulation, and if promoting physical capital is enough, such policies enhance economic growth remarkably. Furthermore, we show that a consumption tax hike may promote physical capital accumulation compared to an increase in national pension premiums if the consumption tax rate is not too high.

The article is devoted to the study of the development and analysis of urgent problems in financing the medical industry. The transformation of the financing of the medical industry is the key to building a mechanism of financial stable support for the population based on providing all citizens of Ukraine with equal and high-quality medical services. During 2014–2019, there was a decrease in the priority of health related to debt service, subsidies and pension costs, so the old financing model is no longer effective. Thus, for further transformation, it is necessary to increase funding or switch to a new model. The reform proposed by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine will not require the introduction of additional taxes and fees. Insurance premiums in Ukraine are provided by the general system of taxation. Experts believe that the introduction of an additional special fee on wages or payroll is inappropriate in an economic crisis. The National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) will act as an insurer. The money to cover medical expenses will come to this agency from the state budget. It is planned to introduce a clearly defined state guaranteed package of medical services, which will be based on the priorities of health care Consumers of medical services Budget of the National Health Insurance Fund Medical institutions and taking into account the economic situation of the state. The amount of funding for the state guaranteed package of medical services is a dynamic value, which is approved annually by the parliament. In 2018, the state will pay a doctor UAH 370 per patient per year without taking into account the relevant age coefficients, and from 2019 this amount is planned to increase to UAH 450. Calculations for secondary and tertiary care are still ongoing. Under this funding model, hospitals will not receive funds for biased overstatement of beds, economically unjustified living expenses and inflated staff. In other words, the reform envisages improving the efficiency of the use of budget funds in the health care system and stimulates the improvement of the availability and quality of medical services for patients.

Autorka omawia rozwój systemu ubezpieczeń społecznych rolników indywidualnych. W pierwszej kolejności analizuje ustawy przyznające świadczenia rolnikom: z 1962, 1968, oraz 1974 roku. Skumulowanie trzech aktów normatywnych nie jest przypadkowe. To na ich podstawie przez szereg lat rolnicy – aby otrzymać świadczenie emerytalne – musieli rezygnować z prawa własności, tj. własności gospodarstwa rolnego. Warto odnotować, że głównym celem ww. ustaw nie było zapewnienie ochrony socjalnej mieszkańcom wsi, ale intensyfikacja przemian strukturalnych w rolnictwie i zmierzanie do wzmocnienia sektora uspołecznionego.

When we think of disability today in the Western world, Christopher Reeve most likely comes to mind. A film star who captured people’s imagination as Superman, Reeve was already a celebrity before he took the fall that would lead to his new position in the fame game: the role of super-crip. As a person with acquired quadriplegia, Christopher Reeve has become both the epitome of disability in Western culture — the powerful cultural myth of disability as tragedy and catastrophe — and, in an intimately related way, the icon for the high-technology quest for cure. The case of Reeve is fascinating, yet critical discussion of Christopher Reeve in terms of fame, celebrity and his performance of disability is conspicuously lacking (for a rare exception see McRuer). To some extent this reflects the comparative lack of engagement of media and cultural studies with disability (Goggin). To redress this lacuna, we draw upon theories of celebrity (Dyer; Marshall; Turner, Bonner, & Marshall; Turner) to explore the production of Reeve as celebrity, as well as bringing accounts of celebrity into dialogue with critical disability studies. Reeve is a cultural icon, not just because of the economy, industrial processes, semiotics, and contemporary consumption of celebrity, outlined in Turner’s 2004 framework. Fame and celebrity are crucial systems in the construction of disability; and the circulation of Reeve-as-celebrity only makes sense if we understand the centrality of disability to culture and media. Reeve plays an enormously important (if ambiguous) function in the social relations of disability, at the heart of the discursive underpinning of the otherness of disability and the construction of normal sexed and gendered bodies (the normate) in everyday life. What is distinctive and especially powerful about this instance of fame and disability is how authenticity plays through the body of the celebrity Reeve; how his saintly numinosity is received by fans and admirers with passion, pathos, pleasure; and how this process places people with disabilities in an oppressive social system, so making them subject(s). An Accidental Star Born September 25, 1952, Christopher Reeve became famous for his roles in the 1978 movie Superman, and the subsequent three sequels (Superman II, III, IV), as well as his role in other films such as Monsignor. As well as becoming a well-known actor, Reeve gained a profile for his activism on human rights, solidarity, environmental, and other issues. In May 1995 Reeve acquired a disability in a riding accident. In the ensuing months, Reeve’s situation attracted a great deal of international attention. He spent six months in the Kessler Rehabilitation Institute in New Jersey, and there gave a high-rating interview on US television personality Barbara Walters’ 20/20 program. In 1996, Reeve appeared at the Academy Awards, was a host at the 1996 Paralympic Games, and was invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention. In the same year Reeve narrated a film about the lives of people living with disabilities (Mierendorf). In 1998 his memoir Still Me was published, followed in 2002 by another book Nothing Is Impossible. Reeve’s active fashioning of an image and ‘new life’ (to use his phrase) stands in stark contrast with most people with disabilities, who find it difficult to enter into the industry and system of celebrity, because they are most often taken to be the opposite of glamorous or important. They are objects of pity, or freaks to be stared at (Mitchell & Synder; Thomson), rather than assuming other attributes of stars. Reeve became famous for his disability, indeed very early on he was acclaimed as the pre-eminent American with disability — as in the phrase ‘President of Disability’, an appellation he attracted. Reeve was quickly positioned in the celebrity industry, not least because his example, image, and texts were avidly consumed by viewers and readers. For millions of people — as evident in the letters compiled in the 1999 book Care Packages by his wife, Dana Reeve — Christopher Reeve is a hero, renowned for his courage in doing battle with his disability and his quest for a cure. Part of the creation of Reeve as celebrity has been a conscious fashioning of his life as an instructive fable. A number of biographies have now been published (Havill; Hughes; Oleksy; Wren). Variations on a theme, these tend to the hagiographic: Christopher Reeve: Triumph over Tragedy (Alter). Those interested in Reeve’s life and work can turn also to fan websites. Most tellingly perhaps is the number of books, fables really, aimed at children, again, on a characteristic theme: Learning about Courage from the Life of Christopher Reeve (Kosek; see also Abraham; Howard). The construction, but especially the consumption, of Reeve as disabled celebrity, is consonant with powerful cultural myths and tropes of disability. In many Western cultures, disability is predominantly understood a tragedy, something that comes from the defects and lack of our bodies, whether through accidents of birth or life. Those ‘suffering’ with disability, according to this cultural myth, need to come to terms with this bitter tragedy, and show courage in heroically overcoming their lot while they bide their time for the cure that will come. The protagonist for this this script is typically the ‘brave’ person with disability; or, as this figure is colloquially known in critical disability studies and the disability movement — the super-crip. This discourse of disability exerts a strong force today, and is known as the ‘medical’ model. It interacts with a prior, but still active charity discourse of disability (Fulcher). There is a deep cultural history of disability being seen as something that needs to be dealt with by charity. In late modernity, charity is very big business indeed, and celebrities play an important role in representing the good works bestowed on people with disabilities by rich donors. Those managing celebrities often suggest that the star finds a charity to gain favourable publicity, a routine for which people with disabilities are generally the pathetic but handy extras. Charity dinners and events do not just reinforce the tragedy of disability, but they also leave unexamined the structural nature of disability, and its associated disadvantage. Those critiquing the medical and charitable discourses of disability, and the oppressive power relations of disability that it represents, point to the social and cultural shaping of disability, most famously in the British ‘social’ model of disability — but also from a range of other perspectives (Corker and Thomas). Those formulating these critiques point to the crucial function that the trope of the super-crip plays in the policing of people with disabilities in contemporary culture and society. Indeed how the figure of the super-crip is also very much bound up with the construction of the ‘normal’ body, a general economy of representation that affects everyone. Superman Flies Again The celebrity of Christopher Reeve and what it reveals for an understanding of fame and disability can be seen with great clarity in his 2002 visit to Australia. In 2002 there had been a heated national debate on the ethics of use of embryonic stem cells for research. In an analysis of three months of the print media coverage of these debates, we have suggested that disability was repeatedly, almost obsessively, invoked in these debates (‘Uniting the Nation’). Yet the dominant representation of disability here was the cultural myth of disability as tragedy, requiring cure at all cost, and that this trope was central to the way that biotechnology was constructed as requiring an urgent, united national response. Significantly, in these debates, people with disabilities were often talked about but very rarely licensed to speak. Only one person with disability was, and remains, a central figure in these Australian stem cell and biotechnology policy conversations: Christopher Reeve. As an outspoken advocate of research on embryonic stem-cells in the quest for a cure for spinal injuries, as well as other diseases, Reeve’s support was enlisted by various protagonists. The current affairs show Sixty Minutes (modelled after its American counterpart) presented Reeve in debate with Australian critics: PRESENTER: Stem cell research is leading to perhaps the greatest medical breakthroughs of all time… Imagine a world where paraplegics could walk or the blind could see … But it’s a breakthrough some passionately oppose. A breakthrough that’s caused a fierce personal debate between those like actor Christopher Reeve, who sees this technology as a miracle, and those who regard it as murder. (‘Miracle or Murder?’) Sixty Minutes starkly portrays the debate in Manichean terms: lunatics standing in the way of technological progress versus Christopher Reeve flying again tomorrow. Christopher presents the debate in utilitarian terms: CHRISTOPHER REEVE: The purpose of government, really in a free society, is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. And that question should always be in the forefront of legislators’ minds. (‘Miracle or Murder?’) No criticism of Reeve’s position was offered, despite the fierce debate over the implications of such utilitarian rhetoric for minorities such as people with disabilities (including himself!). Yet this utilitarian stance on disability has been elaborated by philosopher Peter Singer, and trenchantly critiqued by the international disability rights movement. Later in 2002, the Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, invited Reeve to visit Australia to participate in the New South Wales Spinal Cord Forum. A journalist by training, and skilled media practitioner, Carr had been the most outspoken Australian state premier urging the Federal government to permit the use of embryonic stem cells for research. Carr’s reasons were as much as industrial as benevolent, boosting the stocks of biotechnology as a clean, green, boom industry. Carr cleverly and repeated enlisted stereotypes of disability in the service of his cause. Christopher Reeve was flown into Australia on a specially modified Boeing 747, free of charge courtesy of an Australian airline, and was paid a hefty appearance fee. Not only did Reeve’s fee hugely contrast with meagre disability support pensions many Australians with disabilities live on, he was literally the only voice and image of disability given any publicity. Consuming Celebrity, Contesting Crips As our analysis of Reeve’s antipodean career suggests, if disability were a republic, and Reeve its leader, its polity would look more plutocracy than democracy; as befits modern celebrity with its constitutive tensions between the demotic and democratic (Turner). For his part, Reeve has criticised the treatment of people with disabilities, and how they are stereotyped, not least the narrow concept of the ‘normal’ in mainstream films. This is something that has directly effected his career, which has become limited to narration or certain types of television and film work. Reeve’s reprise on his culture’s notion of disability comes with his starring role in an ironic, high-tech 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (Bleckner), a movie that in the original featured a photojournalist injured and temporarily using a wheelchair. Reeve has also been a strong advocate, lobbyist, and force in the politics of disability. His activism, however, has been far more strongly focussed on finding a cure for people with spinal injuries — rather than seeking to redress inequality and discrimination of all people with disabilities. Yet Reeve’s success in the notoriously fickle star system that allows disability to be understood and mapped in popular culture is mostly an unexplored paradox. As we note above, the construction of Reeve as celebrity, celebrating his individual resilience and resourcefulness, and his authenticity, functions precisely to sustain the ‘truth’ and the power relations of disability. Reeve’s celebrity plays an ideological role, knitting together a set of discourses: individualism; consumerism; democratic capitalism; and the primacy of the able body (Marshall; Turner). The nature of this cultural function of Reeve’s celebrity is revealed in the largely unpublicised contests over his fame. At the same time Reeve was gaining fame with his traditional approach to disability and reinforcement of the continuing catastrophe of his life, he was attracting an infamy within certain sections of the international disability rights movement. In a 1996 US debate disability scholar David T Mitchell put it this way: ‘He’s [Reeve] the good guy — the supercrip, the Superman, and those of us who can live with who we are with our disabilities, but who cannot live with, and in fact, protest and retaliate against the oppression we confront every second of our lives are the bad guys’ (Mitchell, quoted in Brown). Many feel, like Mitchell, that Reeve’s focus on a cure ignores the unmet needs of people with disabilities for daily access to support services and for the ending of their brutal, dehumanising, daily experience as other (Goggin & Newell, Disability in Australia). In her book Make Them Go Away Mary Johnson points to the conservative forces that Christopher Reeve is associated with and the way in which these forces have been working to oppose the acceptance of disability rights. Johnson documents the way in which fame can work in a variety of ways to claw back the rights of Americans with disabilities granted in the Americans with Disabilities Act, documenting the association of Reeve and, in a different fashion, Clint Eastwood as stars who have actively worked to limit the applicability of civil rights legislation to people with disabilities. Like other successful celebrities, Reeve has been assiduous in managing his image, through the use of celebrity professionals including public relations professionals. In his Australian encounters, for example, Reeve gave a variety of media interviews to Australian journalists and yet the editor of the Australian disability rights magazine Link was unable to obtain an interview. Despite this, critiques of the super-crip celebrity function of Reeve by people with disabilities did circulate at the margins of mainstream media during his Australian visit, not least in disability media and the Internet (Leipoldt, Newell, and Corcoran, 2003). Infamous Disability Like the lives of saints, it is deeply offensive to many to criticise Christopher Reeve. So deeply engrained are the cultural myths of the catastrophe of disability and the creation of Reeve as icon that any critique runs the risk of being received as sacrilege, as one rare iconoclastic website provocatively prefigures (Maddox). In this highly charged context, we wish to acknowledge his contribution in highlighting some aspects of contemporary disability, and emphasise our desire not to play Reeve the person — rather to explore the cultural and media dimensions of fame and disability. In Christopher Reeve we find a remarkable exception as someone with disability who is celebrated in our culture. We welcome a wider debate over what is at stake in this celebrity and how Reeve’s renown differs from other disabled stars, as, for example, in Robert McRuer reflection that: ... at the beginning of the last century the most famous person with disabilities in the world, despite her participation in an ‘overcoming’ narrative, was a socialist who understood that disability disproportionately impacted workers and the power[less]; Helen Keller knew that blindness and deafness, for instance, often resulted from industrial accidents. At the beginning of this century, the most famous person with disabilities in the world is allowing his image to be used in commercials … (McRuer 230) For our part, we think Reeve’s celebrity plays an important contemporary role because it binds together a constellation of economic, political, and social institutions and discourses — namely science, biotechnology, and national competitiveness. In the second half of 2004, the stem cell debate is once again prominent in American debates as a presidential election issue. Reeve figures disability in national culture in his own country and internationally, as the case of the currency of his celebrity in Australia demonstrates. In this light, we have only just begun to register, let alone explore and debate, what is entailed for us all in the production of this disabled fame and infamy. Epilogue to “Fame and Disability” Christopher Reeve died on Sunday 10 October 2004, shortly after this article was accepted for publication. His death occasioned an outpouring of condolences, mourning, and reflection. We share that sense of loss. How Reeve will be remembered is still unfolding. The early weeks of public mourning have emphasised his celebrity as the very embodiment and exemplar of disabled identity: ‘The death of Christopher Reeve leaves embryonic-stem-cell activism without one of its star generals’ (Newsweek); ‘He Never Gave Up: What actor and activist Christopher Reeve taught scientists about the treatment of spinal-cord injury’ (Time); ‘Incredible Journey: Facing tragedy, Christopher Reeve inspired the world with hope and a lesson in courage’ (People); ‘Superman’s Legacy’ (The Express); ‘Reeve, the Real Superman’ (Hindustani Times). In his tribute New South Wales Premier Bob Carr called Reeve the ‘most impressive person I have ever met’, and lamented ‘Humankind has lost an advocate and friend’ (Carr). The figure of Reeve remains central to how disability is represented. In our culture, death is often closely entwined with disability (as in the saying ‘better dead than disabled’), something Reeve reflected upon himself often. How Reeve’s ‘global mourning’ partakes and shapes in this dense knots of associations, and how it transforms his celebrity, is something that requires further work (Ang et. al.). The political and analytical engagement with Reeve’s celebrity and mourning at this time serves to underscore our exploration of fame and disability in this article. Already there is his posthumous enlistment in the United States Presidential elections, where disability is both central and yet marginal, people with disability talked about rather than listened to. The ethics of stem cell research was an election issue before Reeve’s untimely passing, with Democratic presidential contender John Kerry sharply marking his difference on this issue with President Bush. After Reeve’s death his widow Dana joined the podium on the Kerry campaign in Columbus, Ohio, to put the case herself; for his part, Kerry compared Bush’s opposition to stem cell research as akin to favouring the candle lobby over electricity. As we write, the US polls are a week away, but the cultural representation of disability — and the intensely political role celebrity plays in it — appears even more palpably implicated in the government of society itself. References Abraham, Philip. Christopher Reeve. New York: Children’s Press, 2002. Alter, Judy. Christopher Reeve: Triumph over Tragedy. Danbury, Conn.: Franklin Watts, 2000. Ang, Ien, Ruth Barcan, Helen Grace, Elaine Lally, Justine Lloyd, and Zoe Sofoulis (eds.) Planet Diana: Cultural Studies and Global Mourning. Sydney: Research Centre in Intercommunal Studies, University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1997. Bleckner, Jeff, dir. Rear Window. 1998. Brown, Steven E. “Super Duper? 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Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow, 1999. Younis, Steve. “Christopher Reeve Homepage.” 12 Aug. 2004 http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/greatsleep/1023/main.html>. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Goggin, Gerard & Newell, Christopher. "Fame and Disability: Christopher Reeve, Super Crips, and Infamous Celebrity." M/C Journal 7.5 (2004). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0411/02-goggin.php>. APA Style Goggin, G. & Newell, C. (Nov. 2004) "Fame and Disability: Christopher Reeve, Super Crips, and Infamous Celebrity," M/C Journal, 7(5). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0411/02-goggin.php>.