In this book, street-level bureaucracy scholars from South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America analyse the conditions that shape frontline work and citizens´ everyday experience of the state. They provide unique insights into critical themes such as resource scarcities, bureaucratic corruption, control practices and the complexities of dealing with vulnerable population groups.

Increasing longevity, globalized competition, and market fluidity have created a new landscape for the development of retirement products. Complete reliance on traditional social security systems and defined benefit pensions is no longer an alternative in emerging economies. The development of defined contribution pension systems during both the accumulation and the payout phases has been attracting attention from policy makers, who realize that valuable lessons can be gleaned from the experiences of countries that are ahead in the reform process. Many countries that have implemented systemic pension reforms and introduced private pension systems are now facing the challenge of organizing the payout phase for retiring workers. This effort entails introducing a well-regulated and well- supervised market for retirement products, including marketing activities, providers, and intermediaries. However, in-depth analysis of the related policy issues, constraints, and options is rare. The literature on the payout phase is narrowly focused on a few countries, mainly the United Kingdom and the United States, and it does not address in sufficient detail the institutional and regulatory issues faced by policy makers in reforming countries. Annuities and Other Retirement Products: Designing the Payout Phase aims to fill the gap in the literature. The book initially focuses on the policy issues and constraints confronting the design of the payout phase and examines risk factors for both pensioners and providers. It then scrutinizes the pension systems of five representative countries - Australia, Chile, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland - which provide a rich variety of experiences and policy lessons applicable to other reforming countries. The five study countries have large mandatory or quasi-mandatory private pension systems operating primarily on a defined contribution basis, and they have already entered the payout phase. A comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the systems in these countries rounds out the investigation.

'Risk-Based Supervision of Pension Funds' provides a review of the design and experience of risk-based pension fund supervision in countries that have been leaders in the development of these methods. The utilization of risk-based methods originates primarily in the supervision of banks. In recent years it has increasingly been extended to other types of financial intermediaries, including pension funds and insurers. The trend toward risk-based supervision of pensions reflects an increasing focus on risk management in both banking and insurance based on three key elements: capital requirements, supervisory review, and market discipline. Although similar in concept to the techniques developed in banking, its application to pension funds has required modifications, particularly for defined contribution funds that transfer investment risk to fund members. The countries examined Australia, Denmark, Mexico, and the Netherlands provide a range of experience that illustrates both the diversity of pension systems and the approaches to risk-based supervision, and also presents a commonality of focus on sound risk management and effective supervisory outcomes."