Abstract
This chapter investigates the policy dynamics of pension markets in Germany and Sweden, introduced in both countries in the early 2000s. While the origins and politics of these markets are well-studied, less is known about their re-regulation. A policy conversion occurred in Sweden, where lifecycle funds increased the social protection function of the premium pension. In Germany, layering led to new private pension schemes to cover self-employed and saving for home ownership, but policies also drifted as shortcomings were neglected. The politics behind re-regulation reveal stronger continuities in Sweden due to more technocratic and evidence-based policy-making, while in Germany problems were largely ignored. Comparative differences are traced to variations in the availability of data, government commissions and partisan interests.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AltEinkG (2004). Gesetz zur Neuordnung der einkommensteuerrechtlichen Behandlung von Altersvorsorgeaufwendungen und Altersbezügen (Alterseinkünftegesetz - AltEinkG). Bundesgesetzblatt Teil I, 33, 1427–1447.
ARD. (2011). Fall AWD: Die Chronologie. https://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/aktuell/Fall-AWD-Die-Chronologie,awd157.html. Accessed 15 May 2019.
Berner, F. (2011). New Private Pensions in Germany: A Pension Maret or a Branch of the Welfare State? Contested Regulatory Issues. In L. Leisering (Ed.), The New Regulatory State. Regulating Pensions in Germany and the UK (pp. 127–149). Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Blank, F. (2011). Die Riester-Rente – Überblick zum Stand der Forschung und sozialpolitische Bewertung nach zehn Jahren. Sozialer Fortschritt, 60(6), 109–115.
Blank, F. (2016). Einstieg in den Ausstieg? – Die Entwicklung der Förderung der „Riester-Rente‟. Sozialer Fortschritt, 65(4), 97–102.
BMAS. (2018). Rentenversicherungsbericht 2018. Berlin: Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales.
BMVBS (Ed.). (2013). Das Wohneigentum in der Riester-Förderung – Empirie und Reformoptionen der Eigenheimrente. BMVBS-Online-Publikation 20/2013. Berlin: Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung.
Bode, I., & Wilke, F. (2014). Private Vorsorge als Illusion. Rationalitätsprobleme des neuen deutschen Rentenmodells. Frankfurt/M.: Campus.
Bonoli, G. (2003). Two Worlds of Pension Reform in Western Europe. Comparative Politics, 35(4), 399–416.
Cairney, P. (2015). The Politics of Evidence-Based Policy Making. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cronqvist, H., & Thaler, R. H. (2004). Design Choices in Privatized Social-Security Systems: Learning from the Swedish Experience. The American Economic Review, 94(2), 424–428.
Dir. (2018:57). Ett upphandlat fondtorg för premiepension. Stockholm: Regeringen.
DRV, Deutsche Rentenversicherung. (2009). Statistiken – Versicherte – Zeitreihen. forschung.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de. Accessed 17 July 2009.
Ds. (1992:89). Ett reformerat pensionssystem – Bakgrund, principer ock skiss. Promemoria av Pensionsarbetsgruppen. Stockholm: Allmänna.
Ebbinghaus, B., Gronwald, M., & Wiß, T. (2011). Germany: Departing from Bismarckian Public Pensions. In B. Ebbinghaus (Ed.), The Varieties of Pension Governance. Pension Privatization in Europe (pp. 119–150). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fleckenstein, T. (2013). Learning to Depart from a Policy Path: Institutional Change and the Reform of German Labour Market Policy. Government and Opposition, 48(1), 55–79.
GDV, Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft (Ed.). (2009). Statistisches Taschenbuch der Versicherungswirtschaft 2009. Berlin: GDV.
Hagen, K., & Reisch, L. A. (2010). Riesterrente: Politik ohne Marktbeobachtung. Wochenbericht des DIW, 77(8), 2–14.
Hall, P. A. (1993). Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain. Comparative Politics, 25(3), 275–296.
Head, B. W. (2008). Three Lenses of Evidence-Based Policy. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 67(1), 1–11.
Howard, C. (1993). The Hidden Side of the American Welfare State. Political Science Quarterly, 108(3), 403–436.
Knill, C., & Tosun, J. (2012). Public Policy. A New Introduction. Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Köppe, S. (2015). Wohlfahrtsmärkte. Die Privatisierung von Bildung und Rente in Deutschland, Schweden und den USA. Frankfurt/M: Campus.
Köppe, S., & MacCarthaigh, M. (2019). Public Service Integration in Hard Times: Merging Unemployment Benefit and Labour Activation Measures. Administration, 67(2).
Leisering, L. (Ed.). (2011). The New Regulatory State. Regulating Pensions in Germany and the UK. Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lindén, T. S. (2013). Pension Policy Recommendations of Governmental Commissions in Norway, Denmark, Germany and the UK. In R. Ervik & T. S. Lindén (Eds.), The Making of Ageing Policy. Theory and Practice in Europe (pp. 98–123). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Lindvall, J., & Rothstein, B. (2006). Sweden: The Fall of the Strong State. Scandinavian Political Studies, 29(1), 47–63.
Loxbo, K. (2007). Bakom socialdemokraternas beslut. En studie av den politiska förändringens dilemman – från 1950-talets ATP-strid till 1990-talets pensionsuppgörelse. Växjö: Växjö University Press.
Loxbo, K. (2008, August). Behind Closed Doors. Why the Swedish Pension Reform Was Successful. Ratio Conference 2008, Stockholm.
Marier, P. (2008). Empowering Epistemic Communities: Specialised Politicians, Policy Experts and Policy Reform. West European Politics, 31(3), 513–533.
Marier, P. (2009). The Power of Institutionalized Learning: The Uses and Practices of Commissions to Generate Policy Change. Journal of European Public Policy, 16(8), 1204–1223.
Palme, J. (2003). Pension Reform in Sweden and the Changing Boundaries between Public and Private. In G. L. Clark & N. Whiteside (Eds.), Pension Security in the 21st Century. Redrawing the Public-Private Debate (pp. 144–167). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Palme, M., Sundén, A., & Söderlind, P. (2007). How Do Individual Accounts Work in the Swedish Pension System? Journal of the European Economic Association, 5(2–3), 636–646.
PM. (2019). Lista alla fonder. In Pensionsmyndigheten. Stockholm: Pensionsmyndigheten.
Prop. (1997/98:151). Inkomstgrundad ålderspension, m. m. Stockholm: Regeringen.
Prop. (1999/2000:12). Statlig förvaltning av premiepensionsmedel, m. m. Stockholm: Regeringen.
Prop. (2008/09:202). Pensionsmyndigheten och dess verksamhet. Stockholm: Regeringen.
Prop. (2009/10:44). Ändringar i premiepensionssystemet. Stockholm: Regeringen.
Prop. (2013/14:71). Telefonförsäljning på premiepensionsområdet. Stockholm: Regeringen.
Prop. (2017/18:247). Ett tryggt och mer hållbart premiepensionssystem. Stockholm: Regeringen.
Radha, J., & Camasso, M. J. (2013). Protecting Children in the Age of Outrage: A New Perspective on Child Protective Services Reform. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rieckhoff, C. (2011). Wohin steuert die Riester-Rente? – Stand der Forschung, Kritik der Ergebnisse und zukünftiger Forschungsbedarf. Deutsche Rentenversicherung, 65(1), 87–104.
Schulze, I., & Jochem, S. (2007). Germany: Beyond Policy Gridlock. In E. M. Immergut, K. M. Anderson, & I. Schulze (Eds.), The Handbook of West European Pension Politics: Political Institutions and Policy Outcomes in Comparative Perspective (pp. 660–710). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, K., & Haux, T. (2017). Evidence-Based Policy-Making (EBPM). In B. Greve (Ed.), Handbook of Social Policy Evaluation (pp. 141–160). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
SOU (1994:20). Reformerat pensionssystem. Stockholm: Fritzes.
SOU (2005:87). Svårnavigerat? Premiepensionssparande på rätt kurs. Stockholm: Fritzes.
Streeck, W., & Thelen, K. (2005). Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies (Vol. 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sundén, A. (2006). The Swedish Experience with Pension Reform. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 22(1), 133–148.
SVT. (2017). Allra-skandalen – detta har hänt. https://www.svt.se/nyheter/ekonomi/allra-skandalen-detta-har-hant. Accessed 15 May 2019.
Thaler, R. H., & Benartzi, S. (2004). Save More Tomorrow (TM): Using Behavioral Economics to Increase Employee Saving. Journal of Political Economy, 112(1, part 2), S164–S187.
Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2009). Nudge. Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness. London: Penguin.
Weaver, R. K. (2005). Design and Implementation Issues in Swedish Individual Pension Accounts. Social Security Bulletin, 65(4), 38–56.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Köppe, S. (2021). The Role of Evidence and Commissions in the Dynamics of German and Swedish Pension Markets. In: Ledoux, C., Shire, K., van Hooren, F. (eds) The Dynamics of Welfare Markets. Work and Welfare in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56623-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56623-4_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-56622-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-56623-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)