IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/14172.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Administrative charges for funded pensions: An international comparison and assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Whitehouse, Edward

Abstract

Pension fund charges reduce the rate of return on pension accounts in some countries by up to by two percentage points. Do charges of this scale undermine the case for funded pension provision? How can governments hold back costs and charges? This paper looks at evidence from thirteen countries, with policies ranging from complete liberalization of charge levels of structures to government imposed charge ceilings. The author stresses the trade-offs in limiting charges, especially in reduced competition and choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Whitehouse, Edward, 2000. "Administrative charges for funded pensions: An international comparison and assessment," MPRA Paper 14172, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:14172
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/14172/1/MPRA_paper_14172.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Whitehouse, Edward, 1998. "Pension reform in Britain," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 20053, The World Bank.
    2. Estelle James & Gary Ferrier & James H. Smalhout & Dimitri Vittas, 2000. "Mutual Funds and Institutional Investments: What Is the Most Efficient Way to Set Up Individual Accounts in a Social Security System?," NBER Chapters, in: Administrative Aspects of Investment-Based Social Security Reform, pages 77-136, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. D. K. Malhotra & Robert W. McLeod, 1997. "An Empirical Analysis Of Mutual Fund Expenses," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 20(2), pages 175-190, June.
    4. Lakonishok, Josef, et al, 1991. "Window Dressing by Pension Fund Managers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 227-231, May.
    5. Shah, Ajay & Fernandes, Kshama, 2000. "The relevance of index funds for pension investment in equities," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2494, The World Bank.
    6. Disney, Richard & Whitehouse, Edward, 1999. "Pension plans and retirement incentives," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 20851, The World Bank.
    7. Richard Disney & Robert Palacios & Edward Whitehouse, 1999. "Individual choice of pension arrangement as a pension reform strategy," IFS Working Papers W99/18, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    8. Olivia S. Mitchell, 1998. "Administrative Costs in Public and Private Retirement Systems," NBER Chapters, in: Privatizing Social Security, pages 403-456, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Palacios, Robert & Whitehouse, Edward, 1998. "The role of choice in the transition to a funded pension system," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 20109, The World Bank.
    10. Paul A. Samuelson, 1958. "An Exact Consumption-Loan Model of Interest with or without the Social Contrivance of Money," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(6), pages 467-467.
    11. Elton, Edwin J & Gruber, Martin J & Blake, Christopher R, 1996. "Survivorship Bias and Mutual Fund Performance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(4), pages 1097-1120.
    12. Mr. Peter S. Heller, 1998. "Rethinking Public Pension Reform Initiatives," IMF Working Papers 1998/061, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Blake, David & Lehmann, Bruce N & Timmermann, Allan G, 1997. "Performance Measurement using Multiple Asset Class Portfolio Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 1618, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Chlon, Agnieszka & Gora, Marek & Rutkowski, Michal, 1999. "Shaping pension reform in Poland : security through diversity," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 20852, The World Bank.
    15. Shah, Hemant, 1997. "Toward better regulation of private pension funds," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1791, The World Bank.
    16. Rofman, Rafael & Demarco, Gustavo, 1999. "Collecting and transferring pension contributions," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 20122, The World Bank.
    17. Zvi Bodie & Alan J. Marcus & Robert C. Merton, 1988. "Defined Benefit versus Defined Contribution Pension Plans: What are the Real Trade-offs?," NBER Chapters, in: Pensions in the U.S. Economy, pages 139-162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Mervyn A. King & Louis Dicks-Mireaux, 1981. "Asset Holdings and the Life Cycle," NBER Working Papers 0614, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Harris, Lawrence E & Gurel, Eitan, 1986. "Price and Volume Effects Associated with Changes in the S&P 500 List: New Evidence for the Existence of Price Pressures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(4), pages 815-829, September.
    20. DeMarco, Gustavo & Rofman, Rafael & Whitehouse, Edward, 1998. "Supervising mandatory funded pension systems : issues and challenges," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 20113, The World Bank.
    21. Amanda Gosling & Stephen Machin & Costas Meghir, 2000. "The Changing Distribution of Male Wages in the U.K," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(4), pages 635-666.
    22. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Shanken, Jay, 1995. "Problems in measuring portfolio performance An application to contrarian investment strategies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 79-107, May.
    23. Ferson, Wayne E & Schadt, Rudi W, 1996. "Measuring Fund Strategy and Performance in Changing Economic Conditions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(2), pages 425-461, June.
    24. Whitehouse, Edward, 1999. "The tax treatment of funded pensions," MPRA Paper 14173, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    25. Vittas, Dimitri, 1998. "Regulatory controversies of private pension funds," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1893, The World Bank.
    26. Iglesias, Augusto & Palacios, Robert J., 2000. "Managing public pension reserves - Part I : evidence from the international experience," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 21311, The World Bank.
    27. Malhotra, D K & McLeod, Robert W, 1997. "An Empirical Analysis of Mutual Fund Expenses," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 20(2), pages 175-190, Summer.
    28. Brown, Stephen J, et al, 1992. "Survivorship Bias in Performance Studies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(4), pages 553-580.
    29. Arrau, Patricio & Schmidt-Hebbel, Klaus, 1995. "Pensions systems and reform : country experiences and research issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1470, The World Bank.
    30. Disney, Richard & Whitehouse, Edward, 1996. "What Are Occupational Pension Plan Entitlements Worth in Britain?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(250), pages 213-238, May.
    31. Elton, Edwin J & Gruber, Martin J & Blake, Christopher R, 1996. "The Persistence of Risk-Adjusted Mutual Fund Performance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69(2), pages 133-157, April.
    32. Richard Disney & Edward Whitehouse, 1994. "Choice of private pension plan and pension benefits in the UK," IFS Working Papers W94/02, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    33. Bodie, Zvi & Shoven, John B. & Wise, David A. (ed.), 1988. "Pensions in the U.S. Economy," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226062853, December.
    34. King, M A & Dicks-Mireaux, L-D L, 1982. "Asset Holdings and the Life-Cycle," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(366), pages 247-267, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Javier Alonso & Jasmina Bjeletic & David Tuesta, 2010. "Reasons to justify fees on assets in the Peruvian private pension sector," Working Papers 1024, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    2. Luca Agnello & Nikola Altiparmakov & Michal Andrle & Maria Grazia Attinasi & Jan Babeck� & Salvador Barrios & John Bluedorn & Vladimir Borgy & Othman Bouabdallah & Andries Brandsma & Adi Brender & V, 2016. "Beyond the austerity dispute: new priorities for fiscal policy," Workshop and Conferences 20, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    3. Richard Disney & Carl Emmerson & Sarah Smith, 2004. "Pension Reform and Economic Performance in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s," NBER Chapters, in: Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980–2000, pages 233-274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Yu-Wei Hu, 2006. "China's Pension Reform: A Precondition Approach," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 413-424.
    5. Luca Di Gialleonardo & Mauro Marè, 2015. "The efficiency of Italian pension funds: costs, membership, assets," Working papers 21, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    6. Palacios, Robert, 2002. "Managing public pension reserves Part II : lessons from five recent OECD initiatives," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 33407, The World Bank.
    7. Adi Brender, 2009. "Distributive Effects of Israel's Pension System," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2009.10, Bank of Israel.
    8. Kunibert Raffer, 2011. "Neoliberal Capitalism: A Time Warp Backwards to Capitalism’s Origins?," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 40(1), pages 41-62, April.
    9. Helen Higgs & Andrew C. Worthington, 2010. "Economies of Scale and Scope in Australian Superannuation Funds," Discussion Papers in Finance finance:201015, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.
    10. Di Gialleonardo, Luca & Mare, Mauro, 2016. "The efficiency of Italian pension funds: costs, membership, assets," MPRA Paper 76064, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Aug 2016.
    11. Whitehouse, Edward, 2001. "Pension systems in 15 countries compared: the value of entitlements," MPRA Paper 14751, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. J.A. Bikker, 2013. "Is there an optimal pension fund size? A scale-economy analysis of administrative and investment costs," Working Papers 13-06, Utrecht School of Economics.
    13. Sluchynsky, Oleksiy, 2015. "Defining, measuring, and benchmarking administrative expenditures of mandatory social security programs," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 95198, The World Bank.
    14. Impavido, Gregorio & Rocha, Roberto, 2006. "Competition and performance in the Hungarian second pillar," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3876, The World Bank.
    15. Katja Funke & Georg Stadtmann, 2004. "Operations of a Pension Fund after the Asian Crisis: The Thai Experience," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 439-470, December.
    16. International Monetary Fund, 2007. "Mexico: Financial Sector Assessment Program Update: Technical Note: Industrial Organization and Competition: Pension System in Mexico," IMF Staff Country Reports 2007/164, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Sarker, Indranil & Datta, Bidisha, 2022. "Re-designing the pension business processes for achieving technology-driven reforms through blockchain adoption: A proposed architecture," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    18. World Bank, 2004. "Peru : Restoring the Multiple Pillars of Old Age Income Security," World Bank Publications - Reports 14681, The World Bank Group.
    19. Martin, John P. & Whitehouse, Edward, 2008. "Reforming Retirement-Income Systems: Lessons from the Recent Experiences of OECD Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 3521, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Whitehouse, Edward, 2000. "Paying for pensions: An international comparison of administrative charges in funded retirement-income systems," MPRA Paper 14171, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Srinivas, P.S. & Whitehouse, Edward & Yermo, Juan, 2000. "Regulating private pension funds’ structure, performance and investments: cross-country evidence," MPRA Paper 14753, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Whitehouse, Edward, 2001. "Pension systems in 15 countries compared: the value of entitlements," MPRA Paper 14751, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Fabrice Hervé, 2003. "La persistance de la performance des fonds de pension individuels britanniques:une étude empirique sur des fonds investis en actions et des fonds obligataires," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 6(3), pages 41-77, September.
    5. Disney, Richard & Whitehouse, Edward, 2001. "Cross-country comparisons of pensioners’ incomes," MPRA Paper 16345, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Whitehouse, Edward, 2000. "Pension reform, financial literacy and public information: a case study of the United Kingdom," MPRA Paper 10323, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. James,Estelle & Smalhout, James & Vittas, Dimitri, 2001. "Administrative costs and the organization of individual retirement account systems : a comparative perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2554, The World Bank.
    8. Mercedes Alda & Luis Ferruz, 2012. "The Role of Fees in Pension Fund Performance. Evidence from Spain," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 62(6), pages 518-535, December.
    9. Dong‐Hyun Ahn & H. Henry Cao & Stéphane Chrétien, 2009. "Portfolio Performance Measurement: a No Arbitrage Bounds Approach," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 15(2), pages 298-339, March.
    10. Fernando Rubio, 2005. "Eficiencia De Mercado, Administracion De Carteras De Fondos Y Behavioural Finance," Finance 0503028, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2005.
    11. Richard Disney & Carl Emmerson & Sarah Smith, 2004. "Pension Reform and Economic Performance in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s," NBER Chapters, in: Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980–2000, pages 233-274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Vidal-García, Javier & Vidal, Marta & Boubaker, Sabri & Uddin, Gazi Salah, 2016. "The short-term persistence of international mutual fund performance," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 926-938.
    13. World Bank, 2000. "Nicaragua : Pension Reform Proposal," World Bank Publications - Reports 14972, The World Bank Group.
    14. Rocha, Roberto & Vittas, Dimitri, 2001. "Pension reform in Hungary : a preliminary assessment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2631, The World Bank.
    15. Elton, Edwin J. & Gruber, Martin J., 2013. "Mutual Funds," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1011-1061, Elsevier.
    16. Palacios, Robert & Whitehouse, Edward, 1998. "The Role of Choice in the Transition to a Funded Pension System," MPRA Paper 14176, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Chay, J. B. & Trzcinka, Charles A., 1999. "Managerial performance and the cross-sectional pricing of closed-end funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 379-408, June.
    18. Begona Basarrate & Gonzalo Rubio, 1999. "Nonsimultaneous prices and the evaluation of managed portfolios in Spain," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 273-281.
    19. Yee Loon, 2011. "Model uncertainty, performance persistence and flows," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 153-205, February.
    20. Deaves, Richard, 2004. "Data-conditioning biases, performance, persistence and flows: The case of Canadian equity funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 673-694, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    pensions; administrative charges;

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:14172. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.