Demografische Alterung und Reformen der Alterssicherung in Europa – Probleme der ökonomischen, sozialen und politischen Nachhaltigkeit

in Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (2015), (67), 325-348

Die demografische Alterung gilt als eine der langfristigen Herausforderungen für die Alterssicherung in Europa, insbesondere für den Generationenvertrag staatlicher Rentensysteme. In einer vergleichenden ... [more ▼]

Die demografische Alterung gilt als eine der langfristigen Herausforderungen für die Alterssicherung in Europa, insbesondere für den Generationenvertrag staatlicher Rentensysteme. In einer vergleichenden makro-soziologischen Analyse werden die demografische Entwicklung, politischen Restriktionen und sozialpolitischen Reformdynamiken in Europa untersucht. Alle europäischen Gesellschaften werden aufgrund demografischer Alterung langfristig Nachhaltigkeitsprobleme der Alterssicherung haben. Trotz zahlreicher Reformen unterscheiden sich die europäischen Sozialstaaten jedoch im Zeitpunkt des Renteneintritts sowie dem Ausmaß umlagefinanzierter Alterssicherung. Der Vergleich von zehn europä- ischen Sozialstaaten zeigt die Unterschiede in der Umkehrung der Frühverrentung und der Verlagerung auf kapitalgedeckte Altersvorsorge. Neben der finanziellen Nachhaltigkeit verweist der Beitrag jedoch auch auf weitere Nachhaltigkeitsprobleme, insbesondere der sozialen Ungleichheit und politischen Durchsetzbarkeit, die es neben der demografischen Herausforderung zu bewältigen gilt [less ▲]

Familien am Rande der Erwerbsgesellschaft Erwerbsrisiken und soziale Sicherung familiärer Risikogruppen im europäischen Vergleich

Book published by Nomos/Stigma Edition (2015)

“The Privatization and Marketization of Pensions in Europe: A Double Transformation Facing the Crisis

in European Policy Analysis (2015), 1(1), 56-73

In response to the demographic challenges and fiscal constraints, many European welfare states have moved toward the privatization and marketization of pensions in order to improve their financial ... [more ▼]

In response to the demographic challenges and fiscal constraints, many European welfare states have moved toward the privatization and marketization of pensions in order to improve their financial sustainability. The privatization of retirement income responsibility has led to a shift from dominantly public pensions to a multipillar architecture with growing private pillars composed of personal, firm‐based or collectively negotiated pension arrangements. At the same time, marketization has led to the introduction and expansion of prefunded pension savings based on financial investments as well as stronger reliance of market‐logic principles in the remaining public pay‐as‐you‐go pensions. However, there are also important cross‐national variations in the speed, scope, and structural outcome of the privatization and marketization of European pension systems. Liberal market economies, but also some coordinated market economies (the Netherlands and Switzerland) as well as the Nordic countries have embraced multipillar strategies earlier and more widely, while the   Bismarckian pensions systems and the post‐socialist transition countries of Eastern Europe have been belated converts. The recent financial market and economic crisis, however, indicates that the double transformation may entail short‐term problems and long‐term uncertainties about the social and political sustainability of these privatized and marketized multipillar strategies. [less ▲]

Machtressourcentheorie und Korporatismusansatz

in Wenzelburger, Georg; Zohlnhöfer, Reimut (Eds.) Handbuch Policy-Forschung (2015)

Mitgliederrückgang und Organisationsstrategien deutscher Gewerkschaften

in Schroeder, Wolfgang (Ed.) Handbuch Arbeitgeber- und Wirtschaftsverbände in Deutschland (2014)

Die Zukunft des deutschen Arbeitsmarkts in globalen Wissensgesellschaften

in Masuch, Peter (Ed.) Grundlagen und Herausforderungen des Sozialstaats Denkschrift 60 Jahre Bundessozialgericht Band 1: Eigenheiten und Zukunft von Sozialpolitik und Sozialrecht (2014)

Wohlfahrtspolitik im 21. Jahrhundert: Neue Wege der Forschung

Book published by Frankfurt: Campus (2013)

Reversing Early Retirement in Advanced Welfare Economies A Paradigm Shift to Overcome Push and Pull Factors

in Zeitschrift für Bevölkerungswissenschaft (2013), 8(4), 841-880

Recent reform efforts of advanced welfare states have attempted to reverse trends in early retirement and increase the statutory retirement age. This paradigm shift often occurred against the protest of ... [more ▼]

Recent reform efforts of advanced welfare states have attempted to reverse trends in early retirement and increase the statutory retirement age. This paradigm shift often occurred against the protest of unions, fi rms and their employees. As a consequence of expanding welfare states and as response to economic challenges since the 1970s early exit from work has become a widespread practice. Early retirement has been part of Continental Europe’s welfare without work problem, while the Scandinavian welfare states, the Anglophone liberal economies and the Japanese welfare society were able to maintain higher levels of employment for older workers. Since the 1990s, an international consensus to reverse early exit from work emerged among international organisations and national policy experts. Based on a comparative historical analysis of selected OECD countries, this study analyses the cross-national variations in the institutionalisation of early exit regimes and its recent reversal using macro-indictors on early exit trends and stylised information on institutional arrangements. Comparing the interaction of social policy and economic institutions, it reviews the cross-national differences in welfare state “pull” and economic “push” factors that have contributed to early exit from work and discusses the likely impact of welfare retrenchment and assesses the importance of “retention” factors such as activation policies for decreasing early exit from work. [less ▲]