Introduction

Over the past two decades, seven of the ten survey countries have either witnessed a substantial decline in the prominence of defined-benefit plans in their employer-provided pension systems (the United Kingdom, the United States, and, to a lesser extent, Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland), or have enacted legislation that paves the way for such a development (Germany and Japan). In the Netherlands, the traditional pension has continued to dominate, but some flexibility in plan parameters has been built in. In two of the ten countries (Australia and Denmark), defined-contribution pensions remained dominant (but with a guarantee feature in Denmark's case that gives Danish pensions a hybrid character). Chapter 6 aims to explain why the share of defined-benefit plans in employer-provided pension coverage behaved as it did in the group of seven countries where role of the traditional pension has slipped.

Some Issues of Method

A satisfactory account of the changing role of defined-benefit plans in the ten countries must explain why its role has diminished in the three Anglo-Saxon countries – especially in the United States and the United Kingdom – and in Switzerland and Sweden. However, it also must explain, or at least shed light on, the slower pace of change in Germany and Japan, and the evolution of the Dutch employer-provided pension system.

The global character of the trends in occupational pensions suggests that the forces or influences behind the changes must themselves be global.