Events

Distinguished Lecture by Professor Peter A. Diamond on "Good Pension Design"

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Date:

14 Jan 2016

Time:

4:30 p.m.

Venue:

Lecture Theatre 2, G/F, Yasumoto International Academic Park, CUHK

Speaker(s):

Prof. Peter A. Diamond

Biography of Speaker:

Professor Peter Diamond is currently an Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT, where he has been a faculty member since 1966 and was the head of the MIT economics department from 1985-86.

Professor Diamond is widely cited for his pioneering work in Labor Economics, Public Finance and Social Security. A leading expert in the field of retirement protection, Professor Diamond has published countless path-breaking articles on the theory and reform of the US Social Security system including “Proposals to Restructure Social Security” (Journal of Economic Perspectives), “Social Security” (American Economic Review), “Saving Social Security” (with Peter R. Orszag, Journal of Economic Perspectives) and “Reforming Public Pensions in the US and the UK” (Economic Journal). He has also co-authored a number of books on the subject, including “Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach” (with Peter R. Orszag), “Reforming Pensions: Principles and Policy Choices” and “Pension Reform: A Short Guide” (available in Chinese as 養老金改革:理論精要) (both with Nicholas Barr). Besides the US, Professor Diamond has written about and advised on the public pension systems in many countries including Australia, Chile, China, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Professor Diamond was the President of the American Economic Association, of the Econometric Society, and was a founding member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Professor Diamond has received numerous honors for his contribution to economics – he was the inaugural winner of The Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics, winner of The Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance and the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Enquiries:

3943 8189 / 3943 5503

Event Details:
Synopsis of Lecture:

The primary objective of pensions is economic security in old age, achieved through consumption smoothing, insurance, and poverty relief. The objective involves risk-sharing and redistribution within and across generations.

Complications for pension design come from diversity in labor market experiences, particularly from informality and gender roles, and from economic and demographic risks to the system. Moreover, markets are incomplete, and so limited in their ability to provide insurance. Also important is the observation that imperfect consumer information and imperfect decision making in asset markets are widespread and they influence the nature of private asset supply.

Analysis should consider pension systems as a whole, and focus on second-best considerations. The talk will discuss the pension systems in several countries that are generally viewed as having good systems. These systems have different combinations of pension plans in order to address the multiple aspects of providing economic security in old age. Discussion will include defined-contribution and defined-benefit plans as well as hybrids that have been adopted or are under analysis.