By all measures our private pension system is in difficulty. One estimate suggests that at the end of 2005 there were significant funding shortfalls in about three quarters of the traditional defined benefit pension plans that fall under federal jurisdiction in Canada. Warnings and calls for reform have come from many quarters including the Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. Yet the federal government and most provincial governments have made little progress. Since most private pension benefits are not guaranteed, the failure of firms to meet their pension obligations jeopardizes the income security of both current and future retirees. The situation is broadly similar elsewhere. This special issue brings together researchers, practitioners, and those responsible for the design and implementation of pension policy, both from Canada and abroad, to discuss how vulnerable the current system is, to identify possible directions of reform, and to consider how to implement them. We focus attention on issues relating to income security in retirement, and especially on the role of private pension plans. Our particular interest relates to the situation in Canada, but many problems are in common and experience elsewhere is of obvious relevance in providing guidance and informing decision making here.

William B.P. Robson: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of Employer-Sponsored Pension Plans in Canada, pp. 1-6. [abstract & access options]

Keith Ambachtsheer: Why We Need a Pension Revolution, pp. 7-14. [abstract & access options]

Peter Hicks, Cliff Halliwell, Benoît-Paul Hébert, and Gordon Lenjosek: Some Perspectives on Changing the Pension System, pp. 15-20. [abstract & access options]

Stephen Bonnar: How Vulnerable Are Private Pensions?, pp. 21-22. [access options]

Brian A.P. FitzGerald: Everything Old Is New Again: A Reflection on the State of the Defined-Benefit Pension Plan, pp. 23-28. [abstract & access options]

Bob Baldwin: The Shift from DB to DC Coverage: A Reflection on the Issues, pp. 29-38. [abstract & access options]

Mario Jametti: Underfunding of Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Benefit Guarantee Insurance: An Overview of Theory and Evidence, pp. 39-46. [abstract & access options]

Michael R. Veall: Canadian Seniors and the Low Income Measure, pp. 47-58. [abstract & access options]

Patrik Marier and Suzanne Skinner: The Impact of Gender and Immigration on Pension Outcomes in Canada, pp. 59-78. [abstract & access options]

Kevin Milligan: The Evolution of Elderly Poverty in Canada, pp. 79-94. [abstract & access options]

Sule Alan, Kadir Atalay, and Thomas F. Crossley: The Adequacy of Retirement Savings: Subjective Survey Reports by Retired Canadians, pp. 95-118. [abstract & access options]

Keith Horner: Costs, Savings Incentives and OAS/GIS, pp. 119-136. [abstract & access options]

Martin Hering and Michael Kpessa: The Integration of Occupational Pension Policies: Lessons for Canada, pp. 137-154. [abstract & access options]

Richard Disney, Carl Emmerson, and Matthew Wakefield: Pension Provision and Retirement Saving: Lessons from the United Kingdom, pp. 155-176. [abstract & access options]

Garry F. Barrett and Yi-Ping Tseng: Retirement Saving in Australia, pp. 177-193. [abstract & access options]

© 2013 Canadian Public Policy (URL: http://cpp.economics.ca/, E-mail: cpp.adp@gmail.com). The CPP web pages are maintained by Olivier Lebert (Université de Montréal) and Werner Antweiler (UBC). Earlier versions of the documents on this site were created by Elaine Constant (Queen's University) and Maureen Church (University of Calgary).