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Australia's Retirement Income System: Implications for Saving and Capital Markets

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Author Info
Malcolm Edey
John Simon

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Abstract

Australia is in the early stages of introducing a system of self-provision for retirement through mandatory contributions to" private superannuation funds. For most employees, the scheme will eventually replace, either fully or partially, the government age pension, currently relied upon by a large majority of retirees. The scheme has been implemented reasonably smoothly by building on existing financial infrastructure for voluntary superannuation. This paper summarizes the historical background of mandatory superannuation in Australia, reviews its potential impact on saving and capital markets, and highlights some remaining policy issues. Perhaps the most important of these is the impact of the system on retirement decisions. A number of features of the system contribute to incentives favouring early retirement and continued reliance on the government pension. Also important is the increasing complexity of the system, a result of the layering of rule changes and grandfathering of existing rights at each stage of the process.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5799.

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Date of creation: Oct 1996
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5799

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Pension Funds; Other Private Financial Institutions

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Kingston, G. & Piggott, J. & Bateman, H., 1992. "Taxes, Retirement Transfers, and Annuities," Papers 92-18, New South Wales - School of Economics.
    Other versions:
  2. Bateman, H. & Piggott, J., 1993. "The Superannuation Guarantee Charge: What Do We Know about Its Aggregate Impact?," Papers 93-6, New South Wales - School of Economics.
  3. Malcolm Edey & Robin Foster & Ian Macfarlane, 1991. "The Role of Superannuation in the Financial Sector and in Aggregate Saving: A Review of Recent Trends," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9112, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  4. Warren Tease & Jenny Wilkinson, 1993. "The Provision of Financial Services - Trends, Prospects and Implications," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9315, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  5. Steven Morling & Robert Subbaraman, 1995. "Superannuation and Saving," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9511, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  6. M. E. Atkinson & John Creedy & D. M. Knox, 1995. "Planning Retirement Income in Australia: Routes through the Maze," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 28(4), pages 15-28. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Hazel Bateman & John Piggott, 1997. "Private Pensions in OECD Countries: Australia," OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers 23, OECD, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. [Downloadable!]
  8. Gruen, F H, 1985. "Australian Government Policy on Retirement Incomes," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 61(174), pages 613-21, September.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Garry Barrett & Yi-Ping Tseng, 2007. "Retirement Saving in Australia," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 177, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Malcolm Edey & Brian Gray, 1996. "The Evolving Structure of the Australian Financial System," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9605, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
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