IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hel/greese/34.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Vacillations around a Pension Reform Trajectory: time for a change?

Author

Listed:
  • Platon Tinios

Abstract

Discussion of pensions in Greece displays a paradox: reform is universally acknowledged to be important, urgent and mature, yet the political class avoid and postpone all discussion. This results in a syncopated reform path. A historical overview indicates that reforms are best understood as interrupted and unsuccessful attempts to complete the original blueprint for the pension system which was formulated in the 1930s. These define a reform trajectory around which there exist centrifugal forces pulling away (cross-subsidies), and homeostatic mechanisms bringing back on track (public finance). Thus, the original 1930s design is implicitly accepted as a maximal aim of reform, while the question of its appropriateness is never raised. This analysis explains reform failures by problems in the content and preparation of reforms, rather than on the strength of opposition (which, in any case, was highly predictable). A fresh start, provided there is adequate preparation, is a possible way out of the impasse.

Suggested Citation

  • Platon Tinios, 2010. "Vacillations around a Pension Reform Trajectory: time for a change?," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 34, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:hel:greese:34
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Hellenic-Observatory/Assets/Documents/Publications/GreeSE-Papers/GreeSE-No34.pdfcolleagues
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christos J. Paraskevopoulos, 2007. "Social Capital and Public Policy in Greece," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 09, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    2. Nikolaos Zahariadis, 2007. "Subsidising Europe’s Industry: is Greece the exception?," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 03, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    3. Kevin Featherstone & Georgios Kazamias & Dimitris Papadimitriou, 2001. "The Limits of External Empowerment: EMU, Technocracy and Reform of the Greek Pension System," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 49(3), pages 462-480, August.
    4. Papaspyrou, Theodoros S., 2007. "Economic policy in EMU: community framework and national strategies - focus on Greece," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 5631, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Zahariadis, Nikolaos, 2007. "Subsidising Europe’s industry: is Greece the exception?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 5633, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Watson, Max, 2007. "Growing Together? Prospects for economic convergence and reunification in Cyprus," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 5618, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Stelios Stavridis, 2007. "Anti-Americanism in Greece: reactions to the 11-S, Afghanistan and Iraq," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 06, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    8. Max Watson, 2007. "Growing Together? – Prospects for Economic Convergence and Reunification in Cyprus," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 07, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    9. Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos, 2007. "Institutions and the implementation of EU public policy in Greece: the case of public procurement," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 02, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    10. Barr, Nicholas & Diamond, Peter, 2008. "Reforming Pensions: Principles and Policy Choices," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195311303.
    11. Vassilis Monastiriotis & Achilleas Tsamis, 2007. "Greece’s new Balkan Economic Relations: policy shifts but no structural change," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 01, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Theodore Pelagidis, 2010. "The Greek Paradox of Falling Competitiveness and Weak Institutions in a High GDP Growth Rate Context (1995-2008)," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 38, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    2. Lyrintzis, Christos, 2011. "Greek politics in the era of economic crisis: reassessing causes and effects," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 33826, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Pagoulatos, George & Zahariadis, Nikolaos, 2011. "Politics, labor, regulation, and performance: lessons from the privatization of OTE," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 33827, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Stelios Karagiannis & Yannis Panagopoulos & Prodromos Vlamis, 2010. "Symmetric or Asymmetric Interest Rate Adjustments? Evidence from Greece, Bulgaria and Slovenia," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 39, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    5. Dimas, Christos, 2010. "Privatization in the name of ‘Europe’: analyzing the telecoms privatization in Greece from a ‘discursive institutionalist’ perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 31089, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Vraniali, Efi, 2010. "Rethinking public financial management and budgeting in Greece: time to reboot?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 29097, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Efi Vraniali, 2010. "Rethinking Public Financial Management and Budgeting in Greece: time to reboot?," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 37, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    8. George Kazamias, 2010. "From Pragmatism to Idealism to Failure: Britain in the Cyprus crisis of 1974," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 42, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    9. Christos Lyrintzis, 2011. "Greek Politics in the Era of Economic Crisis: Reassessing Causes and Effects," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 45, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    10. Vassilis Monastiriotis & Jacob A. Jordaan, 2011. "Regional Distribution and Spatial Impact of FDI in Greece: evidence from firm-level data," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 44, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    11. Eugenia Markova, 2010. "Effects of Migration on Sending Countries: lessons from Bulgaria," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 35, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    12. Horen Voskeritsian & Andreas Kornelakis, 2011. "Institutional Change in Greek Industrial Relations in an Era of Fiscal Crisis," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 52, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    13. George Pagoulatos & Nikolaos Zahariadis, 2011. "Politics, Labor, Regulation, and Performance: lessons from the privatization of OTE," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 46, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    14. Apergis, Nicholas, 2011. "Characteristics of inflation in Greece: mean spillover effects among CPI components," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 32597, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Christos Dimas, 2010. "Privatization in the Name of ‘Europe’: analyzing the telecoms privatization in Greece from a ‘discursive institutionalist’ perspective," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 41, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    16. Max Watson, 2007. "Growing Together? – Prospects for Economic Convergence and Reunification in Cyprus," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 07, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    17. Stelios Stavridis, 2007. "Anti-Americanism in Greece: reactions to the 11-S, Afghanistan and Iraq," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 06, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    18. Robert Novy-Marx & Joshua D. Rauh, 2012. "Linking Benefits to Investment Performance in US Public Pension Systems," NBER Working Papers 18491, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Jean-Baptiste Michau, 2011. "Optimal Redistribution with Intensive and Extensive Labor Supply Margins: A Life-Cycle Perspective," Working Papers hal-00639121, HAL.
    20. Johannes Hagen, 2015. "The determinants of annuitization: evidence from Sweden," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(4), pages 549-578, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Greece; History of the welfare state; Social Security; Pension reforms.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hel:greese:34. 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: Vassilis Monastiriotis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.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.