Content of the course

The course starts with a general overview of current global challenges and of the various approaches to address them. Next, we focus on the demographic change: the graying of the Western world, youth bulges in some developing countries and the one-child policy in China. We briefly discuss their economic, environmental and societal implications. Then we turn our attention to Central European pension systems. We analyze different proposals to make the pension systems 'future-proof'. Among other topics, we will examine whether reform proposals are financially 'best value', whether they are robust to various shocks and whether they take into account the interests of different stakeholders.

To get the credit ("zápočet") for the course, each students is asked to submit an essay.

· Topic: Which lessons can be taken from Central European pension reforms for the pension system design in a country of student’s choice? (in the essay, use of arguments from at least 5 resources listed in the course literature, please)

· Grading of the essay: formal criteria, coherence of text, use of scholarly resources, originality.

· The essay is due on Thursday 4thApril 2019 via email at hedbavny@fsv.cuni.cz. Penalty for a late submission: 25 per cent per week.

· Length: 9-12 standard pages (1,800 characters per page) in English, Czech or Slovak.

· To get the credit, student has to receive at least 50 per cent of the maximum amount of points in each category (formal criteria, coherence of text, use of scholarly resources, originality). Thus the adherence to the submission deadline is strongly recommended.

· All the students who send the draft of their essays (by e-mail at hedbavny@fsv.cuni.cz) by Tuesday 26th March 2019 will obtain feedback by e-mail by Friday 29th March 2019.