Redistribution effects of pension systems – empirical literature

In the last decade, many governments have made reforms to their retirement income systems that have sought to reduce the generosity of public pensions in order to keep fiscal sustainability and to encourage a greater reliance on multi-pillar systems, as originally recommended by World Bank in a seminal study (1994).
Given the strong emphasis on fiscal imperatives, poverty and social considerations have been much less central in the policy debate both when the reforms occurred and later when their impacts have been assessed. More generally, we can say that the state of the art of analyzing redistribution impacts of pension systems is still at a seminal stage. We will try to explain in this paper some of the reasons causing this phenomenon.This paper aims at surveying the literature, which examine the relationship between pension systems and income inequality. We will look at studies focused on developed as well developing countries.