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How do pension funds involve their participants in their socially responsible investment policy?

“There is no one size fits all approach” Pension funds are making real strides forward with socially responsible investing (SRI). This is due to a growing emphasis on environmental, social and governance factors in legislation and wider initiatives such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Pension fund boards must consider numerous factors when formulating their SRI policy. So how do they ensure that their…

Diversity and inclusion in pension fund boards

“Concrete policies and inclusive culture needed to effect real change” Diversity and inclusion in pension boards can lead to an enrichment of perspectives, more balanced decision-making, less tunnel vision and increased legitimacy. In view of these benefits, the diversity in pension funds has increased in recent years. However, not all boards achieve the targets laid down in the Code of the Dutch Pension Funds….

Drawing up the bill: Does sustainable investing affect stock returns around the world?

“No systematic relation between ESG and worldwide stock returns during past two decades” Sustainable investing is on the rise, and institutional investors increasingly take ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) considerations into account in their investment strategies. There is still a lot of discussion about the consequences of this for financial returns. So far, the thousands of studies conducted about this subject have yielded conflicting…

No pension and no house? The effect of LTV limits on the housing wealth accumulation of selfemployed

“Borrowing constraints do not hamper self-employed more than wage-employed” Buying a home could be an attractive alternative to privately saving for a pension, especially for the self-employed. However, this option could be hampered by borrowing constraints introduced in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. The higher mortgage down payments required could make it harder for the self-employed to become homeowners and therefore acquire…

Explicability of the new pension system

“The importance of communication for an understandable and acceptable new pension system” In the new Dutch pension system, participants have more choices but also more uncertainty. Therefore, communication should focus on enabling individuals to understand the system so that they can make appropriate pension choices. But communication also influence acceptance: do people experience the new system and its outcomes as justified? Finally, communication should…

Eliciting pension beneficiaries’ sustainability preferences

“Funds need to give participants a voice in advancing sustainable investments” Pension funds are under social and political pressure to make their investment policies more sustainable. Furthermore, European legislation will increasingly require pension funds to explicitly measure participants’ preferences for sustainability in their investment policies. However, do pension fund participants prefer sustainable investments and do they want a say in how the fund does…

Managing inflation risk in the New Dutch Pension Contract

“Protecting new pensions against inflation is a realistic option” Draft texts for the Wet Toekomst Pensioenen (Dutch Future of Pensions Act) often mention maintaining purchasing power but devote limited attention to the risk of inflation. This is hardly surprising because, since the late 1990s, inflation has been very moderate without large persistent shocks. However, for the future inflation risk remains an important risk factor….

Infographics and Financial Decisions: An Eye- Tracking Experiment

“Salient infographics help index mutual fund investors to minimise costs” Consumers who save for their pension in a DC pension scheme and the self-employed often invest in index mutual funds. They tend to invest in expensive funds because they fail to take fund fees sufficiently into account. A Key Investor Information Document (KIID) is mandatory for many investment and insurance products in the EU….

Aankondiging: nieuwe podcastserie Pensioen & Genderkloof

Wij gaan 8 maart (Internationale Vrouwendag) live met een nieuw podcastserie: Pensioen & Genderkloof. Geinspireerd op het paper ‘Gelijke rechten, maar geen gelijke pensioenen: De gender gap in Nederlandse tweede pijler pensioenen’ van Suzanne Kali, Jim Been, Marike Knoef en Albert van Marwijk Kooy (Universiteit Leiden). Dit paper en onderwerp heeft veel aandacht in de media gehad en blijft een actueel maatschappelijk thema. Dat vraagt om…

Family and government insurance: Wage, earnings, and income risks in the Netherlands and the U.S.

“Family and government insurance reduce but do not eliminate earnings risk in both countries” The dynamics and magnitude of earnings shocks have direct consequences for the pension accrual of employees and the optimal investment policy of pension assets. This study documents the distribution of male earnings shocks for different age and income groups. Furthermore, we examine the extent to which spousal income, government transfers,…

Netspar, Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement, is a thinktank and knowledge network. Netspar is dedicated to promoting a wider understanding of the economic and social implications of pensions, aging and retirement in the Netherlands and Europe.

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