Description: Mexico substituted its defined benefit system [IMSS] of the formal sector by a defined contribution system in 1997. The initial plan called for buying single premium annuities for the widows and disabled workers under the new system. In the first three years, this market came to occupy a significant part of the insurance sector. Then, the number of workers getting benefits started to fall dramatically. This is the abstract of a paper that shows that such a fall has been a direct result of how the IMSS authorizes the issuance of single premium annuities. The paper analyses the rationale behind such a dramatic change in policy, analyzes various possible scenarios of IMSS strategies, and examines the problem to see if it brings in any long-term benefits to IMSS.

Description: Chapter 8 describes the behavior of the AFOREs, how the funds could have performed minus the restrictions, and private company performance. From Retrospective and Perspective Analysis of the Privatized Mandatory Pension System in Mexico, M-RS02-1.

Description: Chapter 6 raises the issue that pension privatization does not generate income. Consequently, a way must be found to continue payments to the transition generation still under the old pay-as-you-go system. From Retrospective and Perspective Analysis of the Privatized Mandatory Pension System in Mexico, M-RS02-1

Description: Chapter 7 develops a model of calculating the cost of managing funds in the Mexican pension system. From Retrospective and Perspective Analysis of the Privatized Mandatory Pension System in Mexico, M-RS02-1.

Description: In the second half of 1997, magazine and newspaper reports started appearing in droves about the presumed doomsday of Jan. 1, 2000, for any and all activities associated with computers. This article discusses the 'Y2K problem' and the costs of addressing it.

Description: Chapter 4 describes growth issues including multiple account problems of the old SAR, the amount of money in the AFOREs, and portfolio composition in the AFOREs. From Retrospective and Perspective Analysis of the Privatized Mandatory Pension System in Mexico, M-RS02-1.

Description: Six appendices, all but the first detailing the AFOREs. From Retrospective and Perspective Analysis of the Privatized Mandatory Pension System in Mexico, M-RS02-1.

Description: This paper models minimum pension guarantee using a simulation approach. Lachance and Mitchell [2002] have shown that it could be important if and when individual accounts are introduced in the United States. This paper's model uses real data from Mexico where individual accounts are already a reality and the minimum pension guarantee is already enshrined by law. The authors calculate the probability of the government needing to honor the guarantee and estimate the cost of such a promise using a real options approach. Higher investment in the stock market turns out to be the key. The higher the proportion of investment allowed by law in stocks, the lower the probability of government support.

Description: On July 1 1997, a new privatized but compulsory retirement system came into effect in Mexico. The new system has a complex web of contributions by employers, employees and by the government. The retirement funds also have a complex web of charges applied to the funds. This paper carefully analyzes these complex cases to find out which funds perform the best. It shows through simulations that the optimal strategy for individual retirement account holder is not to stay with one fund throughout the working life. Instead, the best option is to switch at some point. The switching point depends on a number of factors: 1. the wage rate of the workers [and also on the growth rate of wages], 2. the real interest rate, and 3. the inflation rate. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1999, Vol. 1.

Description: This paper on bancassurance in India discusses some of the salient developments of banks in India, how the lack of coordination between bank regulation and insurance regulation created confusion in the development of bancassurance, the main problems facing banks in India, and some of the long term drivers of bancassurance in India. From Actuarial Research Clearing House, 2006.