Nicholas Barr

• PhD
• Professor at London School of Economics and Political Science

A response to pressures on pension finance caused by population ageing and economic turbulence has been a substantial move from traditional defined-benefit plans in which, at least in principle, all risk falls on the contributions side, to defined-contribution plans in which risk during accumulation all falls on the benefits side. This paper argues...

Introduction: This paper sets out a brief history of World Bank involvement in pensions. Section 1 considers the period 1980–2000, and in particular a major pension reform in Chile in 1981 and the World Bank’s support for that approach, discussing the reforms and how well, or otherwise, they performed. Section 2 explains increasing diversity of vie...

This paper explores the nature of reciprocity between workers and pensioners, starting from the observation that what pensioners consume has mostly to be produced by younger workers, and therefore reciprocity in some form is inherent. The opening section argues that a worker can try to arrange consumption in retirement by (a) storing current produc...

Objective: Two of the most common and costly mental health diagnoses among military veterans who served in the post-9/11 conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, but over half of veterans who screen positive for these problems do not seek treatment. A key barrier is self-stigma of mental illness. Mi...

Objectives Impulsivity has been identified as an important construct in predicting the initiation and maintenance of substance use among at-risk populations. Interventions emphasizing mindfulness strategies appear particularly promising in reducing substance use and marking change in various aspects of impulsivity. Methods The current study used a...

There is wide agreement that the US student loan system faces significant problems. Seven million borrowers are in default and many more are not repaying for reasons such as returning to school, or economic hardship. The stress of repayments faced by many students results at least in part from the design of US student loans. Specifically, loans are...

There is wide agreement that the US student loan system faces significant problems. Seven million borrowers are in default and many more are not repaying for reasons such as returning to school, or economic hardship. The stress of repayments faced by many students results at least in part from the design of US student loans. Specifically, loans are...

This chapter starts from economic theory and works outwards to policy design. It establishes three core objectives: quality (high), access (wide) and size (large enough), and argues that a general strategy for achieving them has three elements: universities financed from a mix of tuition fees and taxpayer support; a well-designed loan system with i...

The US student loan system is currently in crisis. US graduates owe $1.3 trillion in student loans; seven million borrowers are in default and even more are in arrears. The impact on borrowers is catastrophic. We argue that this is mainly due to the fact that the US operates mortgage-type student loans: these are repaid over a set period of time, w...

Friedman and Kuznets (1945) posed the puzzle that the return to investment in human capital was higher than to physical capital. They hypothesised a distortion causing under-investment in human capital and made brief mention of the idea that individuals might sell ‘shares’ in their future income to finance their investment in human capital. Friedma...

In 1945, Friedman and Kuznets posed the puzzle that the return to investment in human capital was higher than to physical capital. They hypothesized a distortion causing underinvestment in human capital, and made brief mention of the idea that individuals might sell “shares” in their future income to finance their investment in human capital. Fried...

The expansion of higher education is both necessary and desirable. But, as the opening section of this chapter explains, higher education is costly and faces competing imperatives for public spending. The second part of the chapter explains the market failures faced by lending to finance investment in human capital and compares two approaches to ad...

Many countries face problems financing pensions in the face of population aging. There is controversy about the underlying economic theory, the extent of the problem and the best mix of policies to protect old-age security. This article sets out the economic analytics of pensions, discussing in turn their multidimensional nature, principles of anal...

In this paper, we consider lessons for other countries about the design of student loans with income-contingent repayments (i.e. repayments calculated as x per cent of each borrower's subsequent income). Using a dataset of 20,000 simulated lifetime graduate earnings paths, we estimate the cost and distributional effects of reforms in England in 201...

This article argues that reforms of higher education finance for undergraduates in England introduced by the Blair government in 2006 provided a progressive strategy for achieving the central objectives of higher education of quality (better), access (wider) and size (larger). Reforms in 2012 are a not a strategy but a collection of ad hoc arrangem...

Pension systems have wide-ranging and important effects. They influence the living standards of older people and hence the welfare of both older people and their children. They can also affect national economic performance through potential effects on the labor supply and saving. The design of pensions therefore matters. In discussing the topic, th...

This article summarises what is known and not known about the reform and reconstruction of China's social security system and the related social welfare programmes, the policy options debated in both official and academic circles, and recommendations for new options for social system reform to be considered in the 12th Five-Year Programme. The term...

Peter Diamond has made fundamental contributions to economic theory over a wide range of areas including search theory and its implications for unemployment (for which he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize), optimal taxation, which he pioneered with James Mirrlees, incomplete markets and their implications inter alia for the design of social insu...

Introduction All pension systems face risks. That has always been known, but is sometimes forgotten. The headline figures are frightening. The financial crisis has meant that private pension funds lost 23% of their investment's value, or some USD 5.4 trillion on aggregate in the OECD, in 2008 … Across the OECD, economic output is expected to fall b...

There are potentially large welfare gains if people can buy insurance that covers the costs of long-term care. However, technical problems - largely information problems - face both the providers of insurance and potential buyers. These problems on both the supply and demand sides of the market suggest that the actuarial mechanism is not well suite...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans: consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes di...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

The finance of higher education faces a clash between technological advance, driving up the demand for skills, and fiscal constraints, given competing imperatives for public spending. Paying for universities is also immensely politically sensitive. This paper sets out core lessons for financing higher education deriving from economic theory, includ...

This paper examines the tax schedule for low income families with children. We take an optimal tax approach based on a structural labour supply model which incorporates unobserved heterogeneity, fixed costs of work, childcare costs and the detailed non-convexities of the tax and transfer system. The motivation is the British earned income tax credi...

ResumenEste artículo establece una serie de principios para el diseño de las pensiones basados en la teoría económica: los sistemas de pensiones persiguen objetivos múltiples, el análisis debería tener en cuenta el sistema de pensiones en su conjunto, el análisis debería enmarcarse en un contexto de la mejor alternativa realista (teoría del Second...

Résumé Le présent article énonce une série de principes de conception des pensions ancrés dans la théorie économique. Premièrement, les régimes de retraite ont des objectifs multiples. Deuxièmement, l'analyse devrait examiner les régimes dans leur ensemble et s'inscrire dans un contexte qui n'est pas parfait. Enfin, les différents régimes partagent...

AuszugGestützt auf zwei Bücher, erörtert der vorliegende Artikel eine Reihe von in der Wirtschaftstheorie verankerten Grundsätzen für die Gestaltung von Rentensystemen: Rentensysteme haben mehrere Ziele, eine Analyse sollte das Rentensystem in seiner Gesamtheit betrachten, eine Analyse sollte als Rahmen einen Second-Best-Kontext verwenden, verschie...

This article, sets out a series of principles for pension design rooted in economic theory: pension systems have multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be framed in a second-best context, different systems share risks differently, and systems have different effects by generation and by gender. T...

This paper considers international trends in pension arrangements, starting with lessons from economic theory. The analysis includes recent developments in the economics of information and behavioural economics, developments which call into question conventional arguments in favour of voluntarism and free competition. Section 3 of the paper conside...

Mandatory pensions are a worldwide phenomenon. However, with fixed contribution rates, monthly benefits, and retirement ages, pension systems are not consistent with three long-run trends: declining mortality, declining fertility, and earlier retirement. Many systems need reform. This book gives an extensive nontechnical explanation of the economic...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes dis...

This paper talks about how to pay for teaching at universities. It does not talk about financing research, nor about any particular country. Instead, its purpose is to offer a toolkit for policy makers thinking about reform. The paper sets out lessons for policy design from economic theory (section 2) and the experience of developed countries (sect...

The decision to move to a market economy sets in train two major forces. 1. The fall in output has led to a reduction in personal incomes and created a fiscal crisis. 2. A widening earnings and income distribution is a result of wage and price liberalisation, and is an inherent part of the reform. The change leads to rising unemployment and increas...

This chapter discusses the controversial reforms in higher education finance in England in 2006, arguing that — contrary to popular belief — they are strongly progressive. The opening discussion sets out the 2006 system. The following two sections explore the historical confluence of ideas between Friedman's work and that of Glennerster and colleag...

This study recommends employing "human capital contracts" wherein students agree to pay a percentage of their income over time in exchange for funds to finance their education. The main difference between "human capital contracts" and loans is the variable value of the payments students make during the repayment period. Their financial consequences...

Many countries face increasing fiscal problems financing pensions in the face of population aging. There is controversy about the underlying economic theory, about the extent of the problem, and about the best mix of policies to protect old-age security. This paper establishes the areas of debate; gives thumbnail descriptions of pension arrangement...

This book applies economic theory to the welfare state. Its core message is that the welfare state exists not only to relieve poverty and redistribute income and wealth (the ‘Robin Hood’ function) but also as a series of institutions that provide insurance and consumption smoothing (the ‘piggy‐bank’ function). The book develops three central argume...

Many countries face increasing fiscal problems financing pensions in the face of population aging. There is controversy about the underlying economic theory, about the extent of the problem, and about the best mix of policies to protect old-age security. This paper establishes the areas of debate: gives thumbnail descriptions of pension arrangement...

This paper sets out the economic analytics of pensions. After introductory discussion, successive sections consider the effects of different pension arrangements on labor markets, on national savings and growth, and on the distribution of burdens and benefits. These are controversial and politically highly salient. While we are open about expressin...

Higher Education faces problems throughout the world: universities are under-funded, raising worries about quality; student support is inadequate; the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds is lamentably small; and the financing of universities in many countries is regressive, since the money comes from general taxation but the major...

Bob Rae sets out a realistic plan for financing a quality university system with income-sensitive loans designed not to deter less well off students.

The monograph shows to what extent do exist in the Czech Republic the conditions for transition from public model of financing the higher education to the share-costs principle and what are its barriers. The team of the authors tried to link up the discussion taking place on an economic field with the analysis of efforts to reform financing of the...

This chapter offers an assessment of notional defined contribution (NDC) pensions from the perspective of welfare economics, with a brief discussion of management and implementation. 1 The opening section sets out the objectives of pension schemes, the idea of NDCs, and the simple economics of pensions. The second section assesses NDC pensions in t...

Část. přeloženo z angličtiny

This topical volume tells the story of the UK debate on financing higher education, illustrating a head-on collision between the economic imperatives of student loans and regulated market forces, and the political imperative of 'free' higher education. In telling the story of the partnership of an economist and a political professional, the book of...

[Reforming pensions: myths, truths, and policy choices]

The expansion of higher education throughout the OECD--and beyond--is both necessary and desirable. But it is costly, and faces competing imperatives for public spending. Higher education finance is therefore salient to an extent that is not yet fully appreciated in all countries, and is also immensely sensitive politically. This paper sets out the...

1. The analysis in the Report of the Pensions Commission (UK Pensions Commission 2004, henceforth referred to as the Report), is sound, the data a wonderful treasure trove, the presentation particularly clear, and the diagnosis correct. This comment takes the Report's analysis as given, and sets out what I regard as essential elements in the prescr...