SYMPOSIUM on assets, incomes and retirement

<p>In most developed countries, an increase in the retirement-aged population has put considerable financial pressure on public pension systems. In response, a number of countries have reformed their systems and have encouraged a substitution toward private pensions and tax-sheltered saving. As the baby-boom cohort reaches retirement age, it is likely that further policy change will be required; however, knowledge about the behaviour of people as they approach and reach retirement age and how they might react to policy change is vital for the formulation of good policy. In the UK, for example, the fiscal treatment of pensions has changed, leading to changes in the way people save for retirement. We would like to know if this has altered retirement behaviour and changed economic resources following retirement. We would like to learn how further policy changes may affect future behaviour. It is fortunate that we have available a new dataset - the Retirement Survey - that can be used to answer these kinds of questions. The three papers in this symposium analyse some of the data from this survey. </p>