Pension schemes, or how to lose a Nobel prize
Turin, November 11 th , 2023 Pension schemes, or how to lose a Nobel prize This little known Italian retirement integration system, called TFR, is one of a number of good things that we lost due to a patient and relentless drive towards centralization and government intermediation. Europe has been tinkering with its pension systems for decades. Italy in particular has been particularly active, since we historically had no private pension system tradition. So when the tinkering started, the discussions were mostly on three aspects: defined contribution vs defined benefits, and modification of the calculation method of the latter; the combined problem of contribution period length and minimum retirement age; “Third pillar” pensions, i.e. private integration schemes, which are part of the object of this piece. The establishment of a “third pillar” in Italy was due to projections that new entrants in the job market would by the end of their working life receiv