Four Pillars/Pensions

LIFE AND PENSIONS

Research Director: Krzysztof Ostaszewski

►     The research programme
►     The Silver Workers Institute
►     Seminars and conferences over the last 6 years
►     The Geneva Papers on the Four Pillars
►     Etudes et Dossiers on the Four Pillars
►     The most recent newsletters

GLOBAL AGEING CHALLENGE

Geneva Report No. 6: Addressing the Challenge of Global Ageing—

Funding Issues and Insurance Solutions

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► The research programme

The Life and Pensions Programme of The Geneva Association (previously the Four Pillars Programme) is a research programme set up in 1987 with the aim of studying the key importance in the new service economy of Social Security, Insurance, Savings and Employment. The programme focuses on the future of pensions, welfare and employment.

The main reasons for this programme have been:

complementarity between social security and insurance;
the changing perspective of the welfare state, employment and the life-cycles;
changing demography and its financing impact.

The Geneva Association launched its "Four Pillars" Research Programme with a view to identifying possible solutions to the issue of the future financing of pensions and, more generally, to organising social security systems. Demographic trends – especially increased life expectancy – could be seen as positive if we were able to devise ways of enabling "ageing in good-health populations" to make a valid economic and social contribution to the functioning of our service economies over the decades to come.

The concept of the Four Pillars owes its origin to the fact that, in most countries, the funding of pensions is based on three pillars:
■      the 1^st pillar – the compulsory, pay-as-you-go, state pension;
■      the 2^nd pillar – the supplementary (often funded-based) occupational pension;
■      the 3^rd pillar – individual savings (personal pension and assets and life insurance).

In our publications and seminars, we have advocated the adaptation of the 1^st pillar, a strengthening of the 2^nd pillar and further development of 3^rd pillar resources. More recently, our attention has focused above all on a 4^th pillar, i.e. the need for a flexible extension of work-life, mainly on a part-time basis, in order to supplement income from the three existing pillars for future years.

The research programme has four main objectives:
■      analysis of the key elements in organising old-age security systems;
■      research of conditions for multi-pillar systems of pension financing;
■      encouragement of multiple and complementary solutions to the challenges of a changing welfare state;
■      understanding the role of insurance in the provision of old-age security systems.

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► The Silver Workers Institute

Created in 2007, the Silver Workers Institute is an independent and apolitical research and information centre based in Geneva with an international focus on labour/work issues for seniors engaged in any productive activity, from both a company and public policy perspective. More...

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► Seminars and conferences over the last years

National Conference on Positive Aging, Eckerd College, St Petersburg, Florida, 7-9 December 2009. Presentation by Prof. Deller.
World Ageing and Generations Congress, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Organisation of three sessions by The Geneva Association and the Silver Workers Institute: Silver Workers—Individual and Policy Perspectives, with speakers from Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K. and France (presentation: Silver Workers: Key Issues and Policies in Europe); Silver Workers—Meeting Company Challenges, with speakers from the U.K., Switzerland and Belgium; and Silver Workers—Coordinating Public Policies and Key Factors, with speakers from Switzerland, France and Australia.
World Congress of Gerontology, Paris, 5-9 July 2009. Organisation of a session by The Geneva Association and the Silver Workers Institute, with speakers from the U.S., U.K., France, the Netherlands and Germany. Presentation of a paper Key Policies and Practices for Silver Work in Europe, by G. Reday-Mulvey.

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► The Geneva Papers on Life and Pensions

Vol. 36, No. 4, October 2011, Special Issue on Longevity
Vol. 34, No. 4, October 2009, Special Issue on the Four Pillars
Vol. 32, No. 4, October 2007, Special Issue on the Future of Pensions (the Four Pillars)
Vol. 30, No. 4, October 2005, Special Issue on the Four Pillars
Vol. 28, No. 4, October 2003, Studies on the Four Pillars
Vol. 26, No. 4, October 2001, Studies on the Four Pillars

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► Etudes et Dossiers on the Four Pillars

No. 395, February 2012, The Four Pillars Conference of The Geneva Association, "The Four Pillars: The Next 25 Years", 3-4 December 2012, Geneva.
No. 358, February 2010, Gerontology 2009 Conference, 5-9 July 2009, Paris/World Ageing & Generations Congress, 3-5- September 2009, St Gallen.
No. 335, November 2007, The New Welfare: The Counter-Ageing Society, "Lengthening of Life-cycle, Employment, Pensions and Health", Turin, 8 October 2007.
No. 330, August 2007, Silver Workers : An Empirical Study of Post-Retirement Activities– Economic and Voluntary Work of Retired Staff, Research Report
No. 316, June 2007 (updated version): The Geneva Association’s Four Pillars Research Programme, Summary of Research Programme “The Four Pillars”, Information, Contacts and Links
No. 312, April 2006: VIVA 50 Plus World Ageing & Generations Congress, St-Gallen, 29 September-1 October 2005
No. 288, December 2004: 2nd Health and Ageing Conference, “Health, Ageing and Work – Strategies for the New Welfare Society in the Larger Europe”, Trieste, 21-23 October 2004
No. 285, September 2004: Follow-up of International Symposium in Cambridge – Public Policy, Ageing and Work and Related Papers on Europe and China
No. 271, June 2003: Work Beyond 60: Preparing for the Demographic Shock, Vienna, 6-7 March 2003
No. 270, June 2006: Public Policy, Ageing and Work – An International Symposium, St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, 17-19 December 2002
No. 268, April 2003: Encouraging an Extended Working Life – Recent Policies and Best Practice in Europe, A report prepared for the Avenir Suisse Foundation

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► The most recent newsletters

To subscribe to the Life and Pensions (Four Pillars) Newsletter, please click here.

For earlier issues, search into the virtual library.

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