Projects (126)
Netspar endows several research projects at any given time, ranging from € 10,000 to € 500,000. Below you will find more information about ongoing and completed projects. Researchers can submit proposals within the various calls for short-term and long-term research projects that Netspar expands during the year. For more information, please contact policy advisor Silvie van Halder via 013 – 466 37 93 or via email.
Topicality (short-term)
Concentration risk in ESG investing
In the past few decades, institutional investors (like pension funds and insurance companies) have predominantly followed investment strategies that closely track broad market indices. The resulting equity portfolios generally contain thousands of individual stocks stemming from many different countries and economic sectors. More recently, a trend has arisen for institutional investors to hold more concentrated portfolios that perhaps contain only a few hundred (or even…
Topicality (short-term)
The costs and benefits of solidarity and collectivity in WTP
In the Netherlands, with the introduction of the WTP, many pension plans will be run as SPR or FPR. Within both, there are choices for social partners. In addition, companies can continue to arrange pensions for their employees in the 3rd pillar. An important motivation for social partners to choose a particular type of scheme is the assumed benefits of collectivity and solidarity. Pension…
Topicality (short-term)
Financial impact of life events on pensions
The new Dutch pension system requires pension providers to determine an appropriate investment risk profile for different groups of participants, depending on their ability to bear risk (risk capacity) and their risk preferences (risk tolerance). The design of the new pension system thus directly impacts participants’ risk and pensions. However, participants currently have little understanding of the magnitude of major life events. A Netspar…
Topicality (short-term)
Pension adequacy: toward a (more) complete picture of retirement income for the entire Dutch population
An important goal of a pension system is for people to be able to maintain their standard of living to a reasonable degree after retirement. Pension income must be adequate for that purpose. Pensions in the Netherlands are considered generous internationally, among others by Knoef et al. (2014) and the annual Mercer Pension Index (2022). However, that does not apply to everyone, and there…
Topicality (short-term)
Changes to the Uniform Scenario Set
Every quarter, DNB publishes an updated version of the Uniform Scenario Set. Within the Future of Pensions Act (WTP), this scenario set has several applications and also more than under the FTK. Among other things, this scenario set is used in determining (collective) investment policy, communication about pension estimates, and social partners’ choices regarding transition balance. It is therefore important to understand the implications…
Theme
Pension Planning in the Age of AI – What can we learn from Digital Peers?
We bring a new research-based pension app to a series of large-scale field experiments across the Netherlands to devise new ways to support pension planning for specific target groups and produce novel insights on 1. how to engage young people to get started with pension planning 2. how to aid people close to retirement to make suitable choices on pension payout options 3. how…
Theme
Understanding, measuring, and applying ESG preferences
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) preferences have become fundamentally important in the investment and pension domain. More and more investors demand their investments to adhere to ESG criteria, and the amount invested in ESG investments has also considerably increased over the last decade. Also, in more and more legislation, like MiFID II and EIOPA, it becomes mandatory to elicit investors’ ESG preferences, next to…
Theme
Risk preference measurement and risk communication – A large-scale comparison of methods and its implications for the pension industry
Understanding risk preferences is crucial in the financial sector, particularly in the Netherlands, where pension funds must consider participants’ risk preferences in the new pension system. However, there is no scientific consensus on which methods to use for risk-preference measurement, and the Authority for Financial Markets does not endorse specific methods. Furthermore, the implementation of the new pension system mandates the use of visual…
Theme
Introducing a new pension system: The importance of distributive, procedural and interactional justice
In the coming years, a new pension system will be launched in the Netherlands. The extent to which pension participants will be satisfied with the new system will not only depend on the ultimate benefit they will receive. Satisfaction with the system will also depend on the extent to which (1) the ultimate benefit matches participants’ expectations, (2) participants consider the allocation principles to…
Topicality (short-term)
Performance toets bedrijfstakpensioenfondsen
De performancetoets is een onderdeel van het vrijstellings- en boetebesluit voor bedrijfstakpensioenfondsen. Wanneer uit deze test blijkt dat een bedrijfstakpensioenfonds zeer matig presteert, dan heeft een werkgever mogelijkheden om uit te treden. De performancetoets kent echter een nogal een theoretisch concept. Onderzocht zal worden wat het effect is wanneer deze berekening gebaseerd is op actuele, feitelijke data