The role of annuities, partial lump-sums and special-purpose withdrawals in pension design

This thesis studies the role of two specific liquidity features in pension design: special purpose withdrawals during the accumulation phase and partial lump-sums at retirement. Interim reviews of theacademic literature and the international experience show that these features are more common in pension systems than is commonly though and that there appears to be sound economic grounds sustainingtheir implementation. The small set of specialized research on these topics focus on individual defined contribution accounts. This thesis presents qualitative considerations as well as numerical illustrationsfor the type of collective pension funds operative in the Netherlands.