公共部门养老保险隐性债务:国际比较

Implicit debt in public-sector pension plans: An international comparison

大多数国家针对公共部门工作人员设有单独的养老保险。这些保险未来的财政负担可能相当繁重,因为政府通常是雇用工作人员最多的部门,公共部门的养老待遇相对来讲也更加丰厚,而未来养老金待遇需要直接从国家财政(现收现付制)或积累不足的养老基金(基金积累制)中支付。一些国家有关养老金水平的论证和信息不透明,可能隐含巨额财政债务,将会转移到后代人身上。为了让各国之间就公共部门养老保险财政负担进行公平比较,本文建议根据统一标准对非积累制养老保险的债务进行测评和报告,以提高财政透明度,帮助决策。文章从经济合作与发展组织选取了一些国家,按公允价值估计2008年底的净负债值。这种财政负担也可理解为养老金隐性债务。

Most countries have separate pension plans for public-sector employees. The future fiscal burden of these plans can be substantial as the government usually is the largest employer, pension promises in the public sector tend to be relatively generous, and future payments have to be paid out directly from government revenues （pay-as-you-go） or by funded plans （pension funds） which tend to be underfunded. The valuation and disclosure of these promises in some countries lacks transparency, which may hide potentially hugefiscal liabilities to be passed on to future generations of workers. In order to arrive at a fair comparison between countries regarding the fiscal burden of their public-sector pension plans, this article recommends that unfunded pension liabilities should be measured and reported according to a standard approach for reasons of fiscal transparency and better policy- making. From a sample of Member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the size of the net unfunded liabilities as of the end of 2008 is estimated in fair value terms. This fiscal burden can also be interpreted as the implicit pension debt in fair value terms.