“Strengthening international cooperation had great added value”   Hazel Bateman has been associated with Netspar as a researcher for ten years. For the past five years, she contributed to the assessment of research proposals as a member of Netspar’s Scientific Council. This year, she was appointed chair: “The scientific council plays an important role in ensuring the academic quality and relevance of the research…

Transition of the Dutch Pension system requires good preparation From 1 January 2021, Nyenrode Business University and the Netspar research network will work together on a master class for directors and supervisors in the pension industry. The 2019 principle agreement for the reform of the Dutch pension system is causing radical changes. This has consequences for employers, employees, administrators and policymakers. The pension sector…

Netspar congratulates the winners of the Netspar thesis awards 2019: Wouter Otten (UT), Rory McGee (University College London) en het team van Renate Bredenoort (BeFrank) en Wendela Landstra (DNB). The prizes of € 3.000 each were awarded during the annual International Pension Workshop to outstanding master, phd and Tias theses within the Netspar research program. Wouter Otten won the prize for the best Master’s thesis for his research into the…

“Non-constant risk aversion in investment reduces uncertainty about pension capital” A disadvantage of defined contribution schemes, like those in the new Dutch pension deal, is the considerable uncertainty about pension capital at retirement. This is caused by the investment strategies used, which maximise the return with a constant relative risk aversion. This study explored the impact of using a non-constant relative risk aversion, which…

Academics have a relatively good view on how individuals should invest over the life cycle. On the investment choices of pension funds however, very little is known. Kristy Jansen (Tilburg University) delved into the world of investment strategies, liabilities and risk preferences of pension funds for her PhD research. “Practice turned out to be more unruly than theory. With the help of data, we…

“Progressive pension contributions may mitigate transition effects, but also adversely affect pension benefits and labor participation of older workers” Most Dutch pension schemes currently require all participants to pay the same contribution percentage and ensure everyone has the same accrual percentage. Younger adults, however, have a much longer investment horizon. This means that each euro a younger adult invests will generally yield more pension…

The number of self-employed workers in the Netherlands and Europe is growing. To what extent are they able to prepare well for their retirement? What about their financial well-being in later life? The doctoral research of Elisabeth Beusch (Tilburg University) provides a better understanding of the heterogeneity among the self-employed and provides insight into the implications of self-employment for different groups over the life…

On January 1, 2021, the Dutch Pension Fund for Public Transportation ‘Rail & OV’ joins the Netspar Network. With this partnership, the pension fund supports Netspar’s Action Plan and provides active involvement in research and knowledge sharing. Walter Mutsaers – Chairman of the Executive Board of the Rail & OV Pension Fund: “Affiliation with a think tank and network organization such as Netspar makes…

“Ageing workforce leads to significantly higher monthly premiums for absenteeism insurance” This study investigated the impact of the ageing workforce on the own risk employers want to take and premiums they are willing to pay for absenteeism insurance due to long-term illness. Data was obtained from a stated preference experiment combined with a survey realised in collaboration with insurance company ASR among a large…

“Eye-tracking could help to improve the tailored communication of pension information” Eye-tracking is a technology that tracks a person’s eye movements. Eye-tracking technology helps us to understand visual attention and provides insight into the cognitive processes of decision-makers. We analysed eye-tracking studies in behavioural economics, finance, accounting and organisational science to explore how this technology could contribute to research into individual pension decision-making. Eye-tracking…