J26 - Retirement; Retirement PoliciesReturn

This paper presents a calculation of the estimated value of the time of old age pension receipt for individual birth cohorts of Czech males and females born in the period 1900-2020. It is assumed that people start to receive the pension at the moment of reaching retirement age and receive it until death. Starting with the birth cohort of 1966, two variants of retirement age determination are assumed: (a) a fixed retirement age threshold equal to 65 years for both males and females; and (b) a flexible retirement age (equal for males and females) defined in such a way that the average time of pension receipt would be equal to one quarter of the total expected total life span of people reaching senior age. The average lengths of pension receipt as well as the structure of adult persons from each birth cohort according to five-year time intervals of pension receipt (including the proportion of adult persons not surviving until retirement age) in the future are presented. Cohort life tables were used for calculations.

The paper is concerned with pension reform in the Czech Republic and abroad. It argues against two opinions: on the one hand, it is not necessary to do anything, and on the other hand, that a mandatory funded system should be implemented. Both approaches are false because of creating overwhelming explicit debts. The author recommends an evolutionary approach based on decreasing PAYG in combination with voluntary savings.

This paper deals with present situation and future development of pension reform in the Czech Republic. A comparison with neighboring country - Austria, has been done. Parametrical reforms of pay as you go systems in both countries are compared and evaluated. Pretensions to introduce the multi-pillar pension system are commented and appraised. Some opacities in current definitions of private pension systems are mentioned. Specific risks of different pillars are introduced, together with the necessity to monitor costs of the pension administrative itself. Aging of the society and public budgets deficit are very important circumstances influencing the pension policy, however, the main aim of reforms should be the creation of a modern system, supporting the maintenance of the living standard of the elderly. Well functioning labour market and developed financial market for a modern pension system are indispensable.