In response to population ageing, pension spending effort is set to increase significantly over the coming decades in OECD countries. But, as this IZA paper recalls, pension policy is challenging and controversial, since it involves long-term decisions in the face of numerous short-term political pressures. Nevertheless, in many OECD countries, much has been done since the early 1990s to make pension systems fit for the future. Belgium appears as an exception: it has not led any major pension reform and still offers many routes for early exit from the labor market. With the baby-boomer generation reaching retirement soon and the perspective of a squeezing labour force, wouldn’t it be high time to act?

Read the full article here.