Archive: Nicholas Barr
The brief’s key findings are: The economic crisis has provided a ‘stress test’ for many pension systems. In Sweden, the crisis triggered an automatic ‘brake’ to restore financial balance and revealed two problems with the brake’s design: it can favor workers over retirees; and it can result in large shocks for retirees. In response, t…
Abstract This article, based on two books (Barr and Diamond 2008, forthcoming), sets out a series of principles for pension design rooted in economic theory: pension systems have multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be framed in a second-best context, different systems share risks differently, and systems hav…
