GIB#4  

Introduction 

In some ways, the Japanese system is not unlike that of other industrialized countries. This is not surprising in so far as Japan, once it opened to the west in the nineteenth century, made a point of learning from the western countries. Moreover, although a full public pension system was not properly established until after the Second World War — no later than in many western European countries — it was established under the American occupation. Therefore, similar to other industrial countries, the state has an important role in providing pensions, and the public system is based upon a pay-as-you-go principle with a partially proportional benefit formula. Company benefit systems supplement the public system and, in some cases, predate it...

For full paper in PDF 

Bernard H. Casey is a senior research fellow at the The Pensions Institute at The Cass Business School, City University, London. He thanks Kika Kokatabe, Kohei Komamura, Tetsuo Ogawa, Fumiya Okabe and Atsuhiro Yamada for advice, explanation and help in tracking down data. The Center gratefully acknowledges the Cogan Family Foundation for providing support for this publication.