Rethinking China’s pension reform
发布: 2008-11-19 15:04 | 作者: CE | 来源: China Economist
—The relevance of international experiences
CAI Fang (蔡昉)
Institute of Population and Labor Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Editorial Note:Pension funds remain scarce no matter what institutional design is adopted. China has a host of unique issues facing its pension system, issues that must be confronted; for instance, the disappearance of its demographic dividends and legacy costs incurred due to institutional transition. Such features determine that China’s pension system is merely passable at the present time. In this article, Professor Cai Fang offers new and incisive perspectives on this issue, such as the potential stimulus for economic growth by ageing people’s desire to save money for old-age provisions.
I. Introduction
In 1997, China’s State Council officially decided to set up a unified urban employee pension system that would combine a social pooling system with an individual retirement account. After a decade of reform in this respect, China has made initial successes, thanks in part to its setting of clear goals. Reform of the pension system, like other social security systems, is not only an inevitable result of China’s overall economic reform but also a requirement for labor market reform. It has played the distinctive role of safeguarding the reform climate. Reform of the urban basic pension system is, however, far from completed, as evidenced in the following respects.
