Reform , with a focus on Sweden

Social security reform is a hot topic in many countries around the world, allowing benefits from cross-country perspectives. The ongoing reform in Sweden has many good features, particularly the change to basing pension benefits on the entire history of earnings of a worker, rather than the old reliance on earnings levels in just 15 years. Naturally, this essay focuses on features that may not be so beneficial. After general discussions of funding and some of the differences between defined benefit and defined contribution systems, it focuses on two issues – income distribution and access to the capital market for the funded accounts.