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The third pillar in Europe: institutional factors and individual decisions

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  • Le Blanc, Julia

Abstract

This paper studies and documents household participation in voluntary individual retirement accounts (IRAs) in eleven European countries. Using recently available, internationally comparable data of households aged 50+, we calculate country-by-country average marginal effects of the probability to save in IRAs. We link the evidence from the micro data to the institutional differences in pension systems that prevail across the countries in our sample. Our results indicate that households' participation in the 'third pillar' varies substantially across countries, both due to institutional differences and household characteristics. Higher education is crucial for participation in countries with shorter traditions of IRAs where awareness matters most. Background risk due to expectations of future pension reforms as well as experience with occupational pensions increase voluntary retirement savings additionally for the currently employed individuals in our sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Le Blanc, Julia, 2011. "The third pillar in Europe: institutional factors and individual decisions," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2011,09, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:201109
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, 2000. "Towards an Explanation of Household Portfolio Choice Heterogeneity: Nonfinancial Income and Participation Cost Structures," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1102, Econometric Society.
    2. van Rooij, Maarten C.J. & Kool, Clemens J.M. & Prast, Henriette M., 2007. "Risk-return preferences in the pension domain: Are people able to choose?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 701-722, April.
    3. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2007. "European welfare state regimes and their generosity towards the elderly," MEA discussion paper series 07128, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    4. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2007. "European welfare state regimes and their generosity towards the elderly," Papers 07-24, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marcinkiewicz Edyta, 2017. "Factors Affecting the Development of Voluntary Pension Schemes in CEE Countries: A Panel Data Analysis," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 3(50), pages 26-40, December.
    2. Teresa H. Bednarczyk & Ilona Skibińska-Fabrowska & Anna Szymańska, 2021. "An Empirical Study on the Financial Preparation for Retirement of the Independent Workers for Profit in Poland," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-21, September.
    3. Edyta Marcinkiewicz, 2019. "Voluntary Pensions Development and the Adequacy of the Mandatory Pension System: Is There a Trade-Off?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 609-636, June.
    4. Kok, Christoffer & Amzallag, Adrien & Kapp, Daniel, 2014. "The impact of regulating occupational pensions in Europe on investment and financial stability," Occasional Paper Series 154, European Central Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    individual retirement accounts; pension reform; consumption and saving over the life-cycle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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