The Search for a New Pension Mix: Reforms in Southern Europe and East Asia

• In Event: Population Aging and Public Policy

Abstract

The longstanding economic stagnation has pushed the pension systems into an enduring retrenchment since the 1990s. In a Familialistic Welfare Regime of Southern Europe and East Asia, such pressure has been particularly severe. Nevertheless, in a recent economic crisis, these countries have been forging out a new and distinctive pension mix. This paper examines the process of pension reforms since 2010 and explores new dynamics in a comparative perspective.
It is sure that the Bismarckian, pension-dependent welfare system could hardly be reformed, and the support for the long-term care continues to be weak as ever. However, some reforms against the trend of the NDC (notionally defined contribution) [e.g., The radical reduction of the minimum requirement for contribution period and the extension of the coverage to a-typical workers] are expected to adapt its welfare mix to a series of challenges from new social risks.
Theoretically, it sheds new light on the significance of the institutional nexus between the pension regime, labor market regime, and partisan politics. Methodologically, comparing Japan with similar cases of the familialistic welfare regimes (e.g., Italy, Spain, Korea), it analyzes a single case with an eye of most similar system design.
In conclusion, the paper reveals that the case of recent pension reforms in these countries can be one distinctive but a comparable way of muddling through the world of permanent austerity, by “saving” the most vulnerable people exposed to new social risk.

Author

• Takeshi Ito, University of Tokyo