[Abstract] When Financial Globalization Meets Defined Contribution Plans: The Roots of Retirement Insecurity 

Economic insecurity has been identified as one driving force of popular preferences for welfare states. While the role of job insecurity has been acknowledged and widely explored, little is known about other dimensions of economic insecurity. This paper proposes the importance and the root of retirement insecurity emerging worldwide in the last decade. I argue that the level of individual retirement insecurity is a function of the interplay between pension schemes and market fluctuation. Retirement insecurity increases when an individual is in a DC pension plan as market volatility increases, and the middle class is the most insecure social group. The argument is tested with data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The result shows that an individual’s insecurity toward post-retirement life is highly associated with the interaction of pension plan and the level of market fluctuation.

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