Pension Reform and Economic Performance in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s

Richard Disney, Carl Emmerson, Sarah Smith

NBER Working Paper No. 9556
Issued in March 2003
NBER Program(s):   AG   LS

The late 1980s saw a major shift in pension provision in the United Kingdom, when for the first time individuals were permitted to opt out of part of the social security program into individual retirement saving accounts (Personal Pensions). At the same time, membership of company-provided pension plans (occupational schemes) was made voluntary. The paper explores the possible impact of these, and other related changes in social security in the 1980s and 1990s in the UK, on household saving rates, on current and future public finances, on retirement, and on the job mobility of individuals covered by company pension plans.

(214 K)

The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this.  You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email.

Published:

• Card, David, Richard Blundell, and Richard B. Freeman (eds.) Seeking a premier economy: The economic effects of British economic reforms, 1980-2000 NBER Comparative Labor Markets Series. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2004. ,
• Pension Reform and Economic Performance in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s, Richard Disney, Carl Emmerson, Sarah Smith, in Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980-2000 (2004), University of Chicago Press
  

This paper is available as PDF (214 K) or via email.

Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX