Person:
Holzmann, Robert
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Public Finance,
Pension Strategy
Degrees
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
February 1, 2023
Biography
Robert Holzmann is elected fellow of Austrian Academy
of Sciences and as of September 2019 governor of the
Austrian Central Bank. He held academic positions in
Austria, Australia, Germany and Malaysia, senior
economist positions at OECD and IMF, and senior
management positions at the World Bank where he was
leading the pension strategy work. He has published 37
books and some 200 articles on financial, fiscal and social
policy issues. He has travelled to over 90 countries in the
world.
Publication Search Results
1 - 10 of 12
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Publication
NDC Schemes and the Labor Market: Issues and Options
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04)Defined contribution (DC) schemes whether unfunded or funded are often considered superior to defined benefit (DB) schemes in their ability to address labor market issues, particularly in encouraging formal employment and delayed retirement. Conceptually, the assessment is based on superior incentives to work and save. Yet economic and social realities are more complex. This paper explores design and labor market conditions that potentially constrain DC schemes. The paper concludes that to achieve their conceptual potential, DC schemes require design innovations, including a better integration of basic provisions and complementary labor policies that promote job creation in the formal sector and expand job opportunities during old age. -
Publication
NDC Schemes and Heterogeneity in Longevity: Proposals for Redesign
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04)A positive relationship between lifetime income and life expectancy leads to a redistribution mechanism when the average cohort life expectancy is applied for annuity calculation. Such a distortion puts into doubt the main features of the NDC (nonfinancial defined contribution) scheme and calls for alternative designs to compensate for the heterogeneity. This paper explores five key mechanisms of compensation: individualized annuities; individualized contribution rates; a two-tier contribution structure with socialized and individual rates; and two supplementary two-tier approaches to deal with the income distribution tails. Using unique American and British data, the analysis indicates that both individualized annuities and two-tier contribution schemes are feasible and effective and thus promising policy options. A de-pooling by gender will be required, however. -
Publication
Pensions in a Globalizing World: How Do (N)DC and (N)DB Schemes Fare and Compare on Portability and Taxation?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04)Pensions and broader forms of retirement income do not stop at national borders. As part of globalization, individuals increasingly spend part of their working or retirement life abroad but want to keep or move their acquired rights, accumulated retirement assets, or benefits in payment freely across borders. This raises the issue of the portability and taxation of cross-border pensions in accumulation and disbursement. This paper addresses both portability and taxation issues from the angle of which type of pension scheme defined benefits (DB) or defined contributions (DC) is more aligned with globalization in establishing individual fairness, fiscal fairness, and bureaucratic efficiency. The paper shows that DC schemes tend to dominate DB schemes both at the level of portability and taxation. -
Publication
Assessing Benefit Portability for International Migrant Workers: A Review of the Austria-Turkey Bilateral Social Security Agreement
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)The portability of social benefits is gaining importance given the increasing share of individuals working at least a part of their life outside their home country. Bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) are considered a crucial approach to establishing portability, but the functionality and effectiveness of these agreements have not yet been investigated; thus important guidance for policymakers in migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries is missing. To shed light on how BSSAs work in practice, this document is part of a series providing information and lessons from studies of portability in four diverse but comparable migration corridors: Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco. A summary policy paper draws broader conclusions and offers overarching policy recommendations. This report looks specifically into the working of the Austria-Turkey corridor. Findings suggest that the BSSA between Austria and Turkey is broadly working well, with no main substantive issues in the area of pension portability and few minor substantive issues concerning health care portability and financing. Process issues around information and automation of information exchange are recognized and are beginning to be addressed. -
Publication
Do Bilateral Social Security Agreements Deliver on the Portability of Pensions and Health Care Benefits?: A Summary Policy Paper on Four Migration Corridors between EU and Non-EU Member States
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)This policy paper summarizes four corridor studies on bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) between four European Union (EU) member and two non-member states, draws conclusions on their results, and offers recommendations. BSSAs between migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries are seen as the most important instrument to establish portability of social security benefits for internationally mobile workers. Yet, only about 23 percent of international migrants profit from BSSAs and their functioning has been little analyzed and even less assessed. The four corridors studied (Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco) were selected to allow for comparison of both similarities and differences in experiences. The evaluation of these corridors’ BSSAs was undertaken against a methodological framework and three selected criteria: fairness for individuals, fiscal fairness for countries, and bureaucratic effectiveness for countries and migrant workers. The results suggest that the investigated BSSAs work and overall deliver reasonably well on individual fairness. The results on fiscal fairness are clouded by conceptual and empirical gaps. Bureaucratic effectiveness would profit from information and communication technology-based exchanges on both corridors once available. -
Publication
Assessing Benefit Portability for International Migrant Workers: A Review of the Belgium-Morocco Bilateral Social Security Agreement
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)The portability of social benefits is gaining importance given the increasing share of individuals working at least part of their life outside their home country. Bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) are considered a crucial approach to establishing portability, but the functionality and effectiveness of these agreements have not yet been investigated; thus, important guidance for policy makers in migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries is missing. To shed light on how BSSAs work in practice, this document is part of a series providing information and lessons from studies of portability in four diverse but comparable migration corridors: Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco. A summary policy paper draws broader conclusions and offers overarching policy recommendations. This report looks specifically into the working of the Belgium-Morocco corridor. Findings suggest that the BSSA is broadly working well, with no main substantive issues in the area of pension portability, except for the non-portability of the noncontributory top-up pension and issues with widows’ pensions in case of divorce and repudiation, and in health care, the pending introduction of portable health care for retirees with single pensions from the other country. Process issues around information provision in Morocco and automation of information exchange are recognized. -
Publication
Assessing Benefit Portability for International Migrant Workers: A Review of the Germany-Turkey Bilateral Social Security Agreement
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)The portability of social benefits is gaining importance given the increasing share of individuals working at least part of their life outside their home country. Bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) are considered a crucial approach to establishing portability, but the functionality and effectiveness of these agreements have not yet been investigated; thus importance guidance for policy makers in migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries is missing. To shed light on how BSSAs work in practice, this document is part of a series providing information and lessons from studies of portability in four diverse but comparable corridors: Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco. A summary policy paper draws broader conclusions and offers overarching policy recommendations. This report looks specifically into the working of the Germany-Turkey corridor. Findings suggest that the BSSA between Germany and Turkey is broadly working well, with no main substantive issues in the area of pension portability and few minor substantive issues concerning health care portability and financing. Some process issues around information and automation of information exchange are recognized and are beginning to be addressed. -
Publication
Assessing Benefit Portability for International Migrant Workers: A Review of the France-Morocco Bilateral Social Security Agreement
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)The portability of social benefits is gaining importance given the increasing share of individuals working at least part of their life outside their home country. Bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) are considered a crucial approach to establishing portability, but the functionality and effectiveness of these agreements have not yet been investigated; thus, importance guidance for policy makers in migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries is missing. To shed light on how BSSAs work in practice, this document is part of a series providing information and lessons from studies of portability in four diverse but comparable migration corridors: Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco. A summary policy paper draws broader conclusions and offers overarching policy recommendations. This report looks specifically into the working of the France-Morocco corridor. Findings suggest that the BSSA between France and Morocco is broadly working well, with only a few substantive issues in the area of pensions and the task of implementing access to health care for retired migrants under the new BSSA effective as of 2011. The pension issues cluster around access to survivor’s pensions in view of civil law differences of addressing divorces and repudiation and the non-exportability of minimum pension guarantees in line with European Union legislation and lacking reciprocity. Process issues around information provision in Morocco and automation of information exchange to speed up benefit processing are recognized. -
Publication
Progress and Challenges of Nonfinancial Defined Contribution Pension Schemes: Volume 1. Addressing Marginalization, Polarization, and the Labor Market
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020)This is the third publication to analyze progress, challenges, and adjustment options of this reform revolution for mandated public pension schemes. The individual account-based but unfunded approach that promises fair and financially sustainable benefits is a reform benchmark for all pension schemes. Nonfinancial defined contribution (NDC) schemes originated in the 1990s independently in Italy and Sweden, were then adopted by Latvia, Poland, and Norway, envisaged but not implemented in various other countries (such as Egypt and Russia), and remain under discussion in many countries across the world (such as China and France). In its complete form, the approach also comprises budget-financed basic income provisions and mandated or voluntary funded provisions. Volume 1 offers an assessment of early reform countries before addressing key aspects of policy implementation and design review, including: how to best combine basic income provisions with NDC; how to deal with heterogeneity in longevity; and how to adjust NDC design and labor market policies to deliver on reform expectations. Volume 2 addresses a second set of important issues, including: the gender pension gap and what family policies can do within the NDC frame; the administrative challenges of NDCs and how countries are coping; the role of communication in NDCs; and the complexity of cross-border pension taxation, and much more. -
Publication
Progress and Challenges of Nonfinancial Defined Contribution Pension Schemes: Volume 2. Addressing Gender, Administration, and Communication
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020)This is the third publication to analyze progress, challenges, and adjustment options of this . reform revolution for mandated public pension schemes. The individual account-based but unfunded approach that promises fair and financially sustainable benefits is a reform benchmark for all pension schemes. Nonfinancial defined contribution (NDC) schemes originated in the 1990s independently in Italy and Sweden, were then adopted by Latvia, Poland, and Norway, envisaged but not implemented in various other countries (such as Egypt and Russia), and remain under discussion in many countries across the world (such as China and France). In its complete form, the approach also comprises budget-financed basic income provisions and mandated or voluntary funded provisions. Volume 1 offers an assessment of early reform countries before addressing key aspects of policy implementation and design review, including: how to best combine basic income provisions with NDC; how to deal with heterogeneity in longevity; and how to adjust NDC design and labor market policies to deliver on reform expectations. Volume 2 addresses a second set of important issues, including: the gender pension gap and what family policies can do within the NDC frame; the administrative challenges of NDCs and how countries are coping; the role of communication in NDCs; and the complexity of cross-border pension taxation, and much more.