The third pillar in Europe: institutional factors and individual decisions

Arbeitspapier

This paper studies and documents household participation in voluntary individual retirement accounts (IRAs) in eleven European countries. Using recently available, internationally comparable data of households aged 50+, we calculate country-by-country average marginal effects of the probability to save in IRAs. We link the evidence from the micro data to the institutional differences in pension systems that prevail across the countries in our sample. Our results indicate that households' participation in the 'third pillar' varies substantially across countries, both due to institutional differences and household characteristics. Higher education is crucial for participation in countries with shorter traditions of IRAs where awareness matters most. Background risk due to expectations of future pension reforms as well as experience with occupational pensions increase voluntary retirement savings additionally for the currently employed individuals in our sample.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-86558-709-1
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Paper Series 1 ; No. 2011,09

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions ; Retirement; Retirement Policies
• Subject: individual retirement accounts ; pension reform ; consumption and saving over the life-cycle

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Le Blanc, Julia
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Deutsche Bundesbank
• (where): Frankfurt a. M.
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/45487
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET