Rethinking Pension Reform

To clarify the global debate on social security, the authors establish the basic choices in designating any system to help policy makers develop the system that achieves their many objectives. Because the success of reforms depends on financial innovation to mitigate key risks, innovations are discussed which demonstrate how pension reform choices affect the achievement of retirement objectives. Finally, the authors examine proposed hybrid options to show how their beneficial features can be captured through planning within a single fund. Hb ISBN (2004) 0-521-83411-2

Franco Modigliani, Institute Professor Emeritus and Senior Lecturer in Economics, Finance, and Accounting at MIT, received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 1985 for his pioneering work in analyzing the functioning of financial markets and the behavior of household savers. Much of his writing since that time has been devoted to issues relating to social security, capital markets, money supply, the Euro, and unemployment. He is the author, editor or coeditor of numerous books, including The Debate over Stabilization Policy (Cambridge, 1986) and the autobiographical Adventures of an Economist. Professor Modigliani's professional papers were collected in five volumes and published between 1980 and 1989.

Arun Muralidhar is Managing Director of FX Concepts, Inc. a private financial analysis firm. Prior to holding that position Dr Muralidhar served as Head of Research in the Investment Department and a member of the Investment Committee of the World Bank in Washington, DC and subsequently served as Managing Director and Head of Currency Research at J. P. Morgan Investment Management. He is the author of Innovations in Pension Fund Management (2003) and articles in leading journals in finance, including the Journal of Portfolio Management, the Financial Analysts Journal, the Journal of Risk, Derivatives Quarterly, and the Journal of Asset Management. He received his PhD in 1992 from MIT where he studied under Professor Modigliani.