Discussing changes to the pension scheme in the public sector in Brazil

Brazil's public sector discussed changes to its pension scheme. The government proposes to increase the rate of contribution to public sector pensions. Complete note here.

Is government expenditure necessary to reduce unemployment?

Yesterday we graphed the correlation between investment and unemployment (click here). Today we illustrate the effect government expenditure has on unemployment using data for the Americas from 1990 to 2008. As the following graphs show, government expenditure does not create employment. To see John Taylor’s graphs click here.

Maine may move to the federal pension program

The large federal countries have been moving towards integrating state/provincial and municipality/county public workers to federal pension schemes, while allowing complementary plans. Yet, sometimes local governments refuse to integrate. This note on Maine shows the problems associated with not participating in the general, national program.

The overhang of public pensions in the United States.

Promised pensions benefits for public sector employees in the United States represent an overhang that threatens the financial future of many cities and states. Most of these public employees are beneficiaries of defined benefit plans under which monthly pension payments are guaranteed. In contrast, most of the taxpayers have seen their accounts fall due to the current crisis (see full note here).

The Americas Social Security Report 2010

In this occasion the Americas Social Security Report 2010 deals with the relation between economic cycles and social insurance and aims to provide a view of some of the main issues that have arisen with the global crisis since mid-2008. This report analyzes outstanding issues such as the limits of unemployment insurance and the lack of it in many countries, the challenges faced by financially weakened national governments to face the problem of lack of coverage, and the structural deficiencies of pension systems that have been stressed by the fall in asset prices brought about by the economic downturn. The Americas Social Security Report is available online at: http://www.ciss.org.mx/index_en.php?mod=report .