The economics of pension reforms

As a respond to economic and demographic changes, social security systems, all over the world, have been or are being reformed. Many countries have legislated and/or implemented measures to enhance the sustainability of their social security system. The main theme of this thesis revolves around such reforms. First, it presents and discusses a new and comprehensive dataset of pension reforms throughout the world. It further empirically and theoretically explores the determinants of pension reform measures. We find substantial evidence that the current state of the economy drives the likelihood of reform measures, and not the expected long-term demographic developments. Furthermore, we find that these determinants differ between OECD and non-OECD countries. Moreover, it empirically investigates the effects of pension systems and their reforms on voluntary household savings.