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New Fiduciary Considerations for U.S. Public and Private Pension Plan Governance: A Look at New OECD Guidelines

Excerpt: Updated guidelines for pension fund governance have been approved by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Although pension plan governing bodies are not required to adopt these 2009 guidelines, they indicate world trends and may be useful to governing bodies overseeing pension plans across borders.

Health Care Reform in the United States

Excerpt: This paper focuses on two factors that contribute to [the] discrepancy between health outcomes and health expenditures in the United States: inequitable access to medical services and subsidized private insurance policies; and inefficiencies in public health insurance. It then suggests two sets of reforms likely to improve the US health-care system. The first is a package of reforms to achieve close to universal health insurance coverage. The second set of reforms relates to payment methods and coverage decisions within the Medicare programme to realign incentives and increase the extent of economic evaluation of different medical procedures.

U.S. Health Care: A Reality Check on Cross-Country Comparisons

"The United States spends substantially more per capita on health care than other developed countries, yet commonly cited reports indicate that the United States does not have superior health system performance. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses mortality metrics to measure health care system performance, but these data do not adequately indicate health status differences and do not accurately judge health care system efficiency."

Improved Childcare Policies Needed to Achieve Better Work/Life Balance, Says OECD

Excerpt: Getting family-friendly policies right will help reduce poverty, promote child development, enhance equity between men and women and stem the fall in birth-rates, according to a new OECD report. Babies and Bosses, Reconciling Work and Family Life compares the different approaches that the 30 OECD countries take to help parents balance their work and family commitments.

Pension Markets in Focus – June 2005 – Issue 1 (PDF)

12 pages. Excerpt: Recent years have witnessed intense pension reform efforts in countries around the globe, which have often involved an increased use of funded pension programmes managed by the private sector. There is a growing need among policy makers and the regulatory community, as well as among private sector participants, to compare programme developments and experiences to those of other countries.

Guaranteed Pension Returns Not Always Worth the Cost

"The minimum return guarantee, devised by financial engineers to allow pension providers to offer a handy hybrid between defined contribution and defined benefit schemes, is proving increasingly hard for pension fund managers to ignore. Interest in the concept has grown following the spectacularly negative returns triggered by the credit crunch. However, a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warns that the notion of pledging a minimum floor for investment returns can be extremely costly for pension providers -- and hence for the participants making pension contributions."

Rich Countries Have a $78 Trillion Pension Problem

"The total value of unfunded or underfunded government pension liabilities for 20 countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) -- a group of largely wealthy countries -- is $78 trillion ... (The countries studied include the U.K., France and Germany, plus several others in western and central Europe, the U.S., Japan, Canada, and Australia.) ... [C]orporates also failed to consistently meet their pension obligations, with most U.S. and U.K. corporate pensions plans underfunded. Countries with large public pension systems in Europe appear to have the greatest problem."

Overview of a Report on Private Health Insurance in OECD Countries

Excerpt: Whatever the role played in a health system, private health insurance has added to total health expenditure. Most OECD countries apply less government control over private sector activities and prices, compared to public programmes and providers. Private insurers tend to have less bargaining power over the price and quantity of care as compared with public systems, particularly single-payer ones.

First Issue of Annual OECD Newsletter with International Private Pension Stats: 'Pensions in Focus' (PDF)

12 pages. Excerpt: [T]he availability of an accurate, comprehensive, comparable and up-to-date body of international statistics [on privately funded pensions is] a necessary tool for policy makers, regulators and market participants. The first issue of this new OECD newsletter is an important step in that direction.

Japan to Issue Bridging Bonds to Cover Pension Payment Shortfall

"Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is grappling with the world's largest public debt as an aging population drives up spending on pensions and social welfare. The national debt is predicted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to reach 223 percent of gross domestic product next year. The government needs to sell bridging bonds this and next fiscal years until the sales tax is raised and revenues increase, according to a government statement released today. The bonds will be paid back from future revenues generated by the higher consumption levy, it said."