A Marathon Rather than a Sprint: The Reform of the Farmers’ Pension System in Germany and its Impacts

In 1994, the farmers’ pension system in Germany was fundamentally reformed: the product of a long discussion process in which Konrad Hagedorn’s analyses and recommendations played an important part. This paper analyses both the long road to the reform and its results and impacts. We first take a look back at the discussion about reform of the farmers’ pension system during the 1980s and early 1990s and the reason why even small steps toward reform were not seen to be politically feasible at that time. Then we analyse the goals and main components of the reform in terms of its central features and their interplay. On this basis, the extent to which the targets intended by the reform were reached – or, rather, what intentional and non-intentional impacts emerged – is then analysed. With the reform, extensive improvements were achieved concerning social security for farmers’ spouses, the stabilisation of the system, the dismantling of intersectoral advantages for the insured farmers and the compatibility of the farmers’ pension system with other pension systems. The continuing discussion of the reform of the pay-as-you-go pension systems in Germany, however, clearly indicates that the farmers’ pension system, despite the successful reform of 1994, will continue to be a topic of debate.