Lessons from the Historical Reform Process in Germany

This project extends the preceding project and evaluates the development of the German public pension system between 1972 and 2014. In addition to the 2001-2007 sustainability reforms, this evaluation includes the large expansion of the system in 1972 which introduced flexible retirement age without actuarial adjustments, the 1992 reform which introduced actuarial adjustments and changed the indexation of pensions to net rather than gross wages, and the re-introduction of early retirement in 2014. The project looks at the economic as well as the political dimensions of these ups and downs in pension policy. The project will serve as the foundation for several newspaper articles and a scientific paper in the German Wirtschaftsdienst. This project has been successfully completed with a paper published in the German Wirtschaftsdienst and several newspaper articles.