International Pension Workshop 2025: meetings as a powerful multiplier
International Pension Workshop 2025 is over. It was another successful edition, showing how meetings can empower. A report and four interviews with participants from different perspectives: Viola Angelini as a member of the program committee, presenters Marie Brière and Lieke Beekers, and discussant Marco Ceccarelli.
The 2025 edition once again takes place in the historic university city of Leiden. In the run-up to it, it is briefly tense whether the trains will go to Leiden because of disruptions in the train schedule. In the end, it is possible to start the three-day conference with all speakers, presenters and discussants. The proven format was chosen: two keynotes by leading scientists, eighteen sessions, 49 papers presented and a total of 135 participants from Europe and beyond.
Scientific director Mathijs van Dijk of Netspar provides the plenary opening. He does so in front of an audience of familiar faces, as well as of new researchers who come to enrich the network. So a brief introduction to Netspar is not superfluous. Van Dijk also announces that Kim Peijnenburg is chairing the program committee of the International Pension Workshop for the last time this year. A successor has been found in Stefan Zeisberger, who is affiliated with Radboud University and University of Zurich.
How do we value the future in money?
The keynote on the first day comes from Christian Gollier, Professor of Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics and also its director. He addresses the question of how to deal with extra-long maturities in investments and cost calculations. For example, in light of climate change. The discount rate determines the value of future benefits and costs in the present. So: how do we value the future in monetary terms? In doing so, different countries take different approaches to whether we should use a lower discount rate for longer maturities.
Gollier discusses long-term influences in his keynote. For example, he says highly unlikely but extreme scenarios should be taken into account. Economic growth is in addition uncertain, so a fixed discount rate is not ideal. Finally, inequality aversion becomes less relevant at long maturities. He concludes that a declining discount rate may be prudent for long maturities. This has implications for investments in, for example, climate policy, pension funds and infrastructure.
Behavioral solutions as a multiplier
Elke Weber takes the keynote on the second day. Weber is Professor of Psychology and Public Policy at Princeton University and Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor of Energy and the Environment. She asks why we sometimes struggle to make wise decisions about the future. For example, when choosing to set aside money for the future. She also addresses how rational or irrational we actually are as human beings. For example, if there is no sense of worry or anxiety, no action follows.
Weber concludes that solutions from the behavioral sciences will not save the world single-handedly, but are a powerful multiplier. Through framing and design, certain perspectives and considerations can be activated in people. Indeed, according to the so-called Query Theory, preferences are formed based on the order in which people retrieve information from memory: whatever is recalled first is given more weight in the final decision.
This order can be influenced via context, which may or may not stimulate certain thought processes. In this way, communication and choice architecture can guide which considerations people take into account in their decision-making – for example, financial security versus social impact.
After this inspiring keynote, following a day full of presentations and discussions, it was time for another multiplier: the informal meeting of international researchers in the field of retirement and aging. Indeed, it should not be forgotten how meetings can empower and that is why they are an important part of events of Netspar. This is done with a boat trip on the canals of Leiden.
Interviews with participants
The participants make the conference. We therefore let four participants have their say, who contributed to the International Pension Workshop from different roles:
Viola Angelini, is a member of the program committee of the International Pension Workshop
Viola Angelini is professor of Economics of Household Behavior at the University of Groningen. As a member of the program committee of the International Pension Workshop, she plays an important role in the organization of the conference. With the other members, she selects the submitted papers. “We consider whether the paper fits into Netspar’s research agenda and we pay attention to quality, i.e., whether the research is well-conducted with the right data and methods.”
Another task is finding discussants to provide feedback on the papers. That’s a big job, because it generally involves dozens of submitted papers, and two potential discussants are identified for each paper. “In this regard, it helps that I have been involved with Netspar for a long time, since about 2008”, Angelini says. “I was still a PhD student from the University of York at the time and have attended many conferences since then. As a result, you know which researcher is working on what and it’s easier to find the right discussants.”
Because the International Pension Workshop has been around for a long time, many international researchers know how to find their way to Netspar. “Since the conference is established, we generally get a lot of high-quality submissions”, Angelini explains. “Furthermore, it is nice that with about 135 participants we are not very small, but again not extremely large. In addition, there is quite a lot of time set aside in the program for each paper, which you don’t often see in other conferences. Sometimes you only get 20 minutes there without a discussant and discussion.”
The beauty of this work is that in the preparation you put a lot of time into selecting papers and discussants, and then during the conference you finally get to experience the great result.
Discussions and meetings are therefore the most important part of the International Pension Workshop for Angelini. “It’s about exchanging ideas and connecting with other researchers, even from disciplines that are very different.” That this succeeded again at this edition is beyond doubt for Angelini. “The beauty of this work is that in the preparation you put a lot of time into selecting papers and discussants, and then during the conference you finally get to experience the great result.”
Marie Brière, presented a paper
Marie Brière is head of Investor Intelligence and Academic Partnership at Amundi Institute, a European asset manager based in Paris. She also chairs Inquire Europe, a meeting platform for institutional investors and academia. Brière has always had a strong link to practice in her academic work. “I really like working on practical problems and issues that we might face. In doing so, I have recently been focusing on individual savings and investment decisions.”
Brière presented a paper in this area on the first day of the International Pension Workshop, “Does Tax Deductibility Increase Retirement Saving? Lessons from a French Natural Experiment”. Brière: “This paper is about the impact of tax incentives on retirement savings. When there are almost no funded pension funds as in France, for example, it is necessary to encourage voluntary saving and investment. After my presentation, I received valuable feedback from discussant Michael D. Hurd.”
Knowledge sharing is therefore one of the core activities of Netspar. According to Brière, the knowledge network provides the right conditions for this. “I am a big fan of Netspar conferences”, she says. “There is a super good atmosphere and people are eager to learn from each other and exchange ideas. Furthermore, it is very international, so you also learn from other countries’ pension systems. In addition, I find here something I am very sensitive to, a good mix of high-quality academic research and a policy orientation.”
What I take away with me are new ideas, new research techniques and feedback on my research.
In any case, Brière goes home from the International Pension Workshop satisfied. “What I take away with me are new ideas, new research techniques and feedback on my research. Moreover, I made contacts for possible collaborations. For example, during the conference I spoke with several European parties for a joint project at the European level. In this we want to work together from Netspar, Inquire Europe and other partners. I look forward to learn from each other and start working together in the future.”
Lieke Beekers, presented a paper
Lieke Beekers has been working as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Leiden University since 2024. In April 2025, she obtained her PhD from Tilburg University under the supervision of Marike Knoef, Bertrand Melenberg and Anja De Waegenaere. In 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Young Economist Award by the European Economic Association for her paper on intergenerational mobility.
During the International Pension Workshop, she presented the paper “The Long-Term Impact of Last-Minute Pension System Changes on Health and Labor Market Outcomes.” The paper focuses on the sweeping reform of early retirement schemes (VUT and pre-pension arrangements) that took place in 2005. “As a result, early retirement suddenly became much less of a norm”, Beekers explains. “A legal provision stated that individuals born on or after January 1, 1950, were no longer eligible for generous early retirement schemes. In my paper, I examined the effects of this change on income, labor force participation, and the health of older individuals.”
Thanks to access to microdata from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), Beekers was able to go beyond just labor market outcomes. “This allowed me to discover that the abolishment of the scheme had short-term mental health effects for men. For women, the reform slightly increased their probability of dying”, she says.
According to Beekers, these health effects may be linked to the abrupt nature of the reform. “Right now, for instance, we are experiencing a gradual increase in the statutory retirement age (AOW age), with each cohort facing a few additional months. That likely feels less unfair. But with the VUT and pre-pension reform, it all came down to whether you were born before or after January 1, 1950. That probably felt much more unjust. This is something policymakers might want to consider for future reforms.”
It was very interesting to see how someone who wasn’t involved in our research interpreted our findings.
Serena Trucchi from Cardiff University served as the discussant for Beekers’ paper presentation. “It was very interesting to see how someone who wasn’t involved in our research interpreted our findings.” In addition to receiving valuable feedback, Beekers appreciates the networking opportunities offered by Netspar. “It’s great that there are different events organized every year, where you can meet both academics and people from the industry.”
Marco Ceccarelli, was a discussant at a paper presentation
Marco Ceccarelli is assistant professor of Finance at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He conducts research on sustainable finance and is also concerned, among other things, with the differences between preferences and beliefs. During Mathijs van Dijk’s paper presentation, he was the discussant, a role he has fulfilled more often here. The title of the unpublished paper is “FOMO in equity markets? Concentration risk in (sustainable) investing”. As a discussant, he provided feedback on this paper, which the author can then incorporate into the final version.
It’s good when a paper tries to question something you hold to be true.
“I think it’s a great paper and an example of provocative thinking,” Ceccarelli said. “It’s good when a paper tries to question something you hold to be true. Look, it’s a stylized fact that if you have 20 to 30 companies in your portfolio, you can consider that portfolio diversified. Mathijs showed that this is not quite true when you look at international companies and have a long-time horizon. Then it turns out that you actually have to have two hundred to three hundred companies in your portfolio to be fully diversified.”
Dutch academia is a good environment for Ceccarelli to navigate as a researcher. “In the Netherlands, you find the forefront of the academic community. There are many universities here per capita, so you have a lot of smart people working on very interesting topics. At the same time, the pension sector is very big here. Added to that, the great thing is that you can learn from all the experts gathered here, for example at the International Pension Workshop.”
The inspiring meeting with peers and the positive atmosphere is what Ceccarelli likes about the International Pension Workshop. “One of the nice things about this conference is that you meet participants here who are working on related topics, sometimes raising new research questions”, he says. “It’s also informal in the right way. You get valuable feedback, and the difference with many other conferences is that it’s generally really constructive here.”