Cover -- Contents -- Abstract -- I. Introduction -- II. The Pension System and Past Reforms in Japan -- III. Pension Reform Options to Reduce the Fiscal Burden -- A. Raise Pension Eligibility Age -- B. Lower Replacement Ratio -- C. Higher Contribution Rates -- D. Reducing Preferential Treatments -- IV. Conclusion -- Tables -- 1. Japan: Options to Reduce Government for Basic Pension -- Figures -- 1. Japan: Population Aging in Japan and OECD Countries -- 2. Japan: Social Security Spending -- 3. Japan: Public Pension System -- 4. Japan: NP and EPI Pension Spending and Contributions, 2010-2100 -- 5. Japan: Life Expectancy after Pension Eligibility Age, 2000-2030 -- 6. OECD Countries: Pension Eligibility Age and Life Expectancy in 2010 and 2030 -- 7. Pension Benefit Replacement Rate for Single Earner Couples -- 8. Pension Contribution Rate, 2009 -- Boxes -- 1. Japan: How Does Macro Indexing Work? -- 2. Japan: Growth Impact of Pension Reform Options -- 3. Japan: Old-age Poverty in Japan and the Role of Pensions -- Appendices -- I. Methodologies to Calculate Fiscal Savings from Reform Options -- References.

This paper analyzes various reform options for Japan's public pension in light of large fiscal consolidation needs of the country. The most attractive option is to increase the pension eligibility age in line with high and rising life expectancy. This would have a positive effect on long-run economic growth and would be relatively fair in sharing the burden of fiscal adjustment between younger and older generations. Other attractive options include better targeting by “clawing back” a small portion of pension benefits from wealthy retirees, reducing preferential tax treatment of pension benefit incomes, and collecting contributions from dependent spouses of employees, who are currently eligible for pension benefits even though they make no contributions. These options, if implemented concurrently, could reduce the government annual subsidy and the government deficit by up to 1¼ percent of GDP by 2020.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.