Active Ageing Policy and Pension Reforms: Russian and International Experience, 2020
The Institute for Social Policy (ISP) at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics is hosting since 2019 a regular academic workshop “Active Ageing Policy and Pension Reforms: Russian and International Experience”.
The workshop is to encourage academic and expert discussion on social policy development, aging population, active ageing, and pension reforms that are to be based on research and international experience.
The workshop favours an interdisciplinary approach and expects to bring together Russian and foreign experts in different fields such as economy, law, sociology, demography as well as decision-makers dealing with these issues.
The workshop is to focus on three key topics:
(1) social and economic dimensions of aging population and active ageing;
(2) pension reform;
(3) social insurance and its improvement options.
Academic Leader – Oksana Sinyavskaya, Deputy Director of the Institute for Social Policy.
Project Coordinator – Olga Voron, Advisor to the Director of the Institute for Social Policy.
The Institute for Social Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics held on December 17, 2020 the 15th academic workshop on the topic of Social Protection as a Part of Anti-crisis Support Packages during COVID-19 Pandemic: Global and Russian experience. The event was organized on the online platform Zoom in the framework of a research grant funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant ID: 075-15-2020-928) and in cooperation with the World Bank within the series of events under the topic “Active Ageing Policy and Pension Reforms: Russian and International Experience”.
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The Covid-19 pandemic poses serious challenges to sustainable social and economic development, which are not exhausted by the impact on poverty and inequality that is obvious but nevertheless needs to be addressed. In the midst of the pandemic, the role of social states as anti-crisis managers helping to overcome the macroeconomic crisis more quickly has become even clearer than during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Social support measures are taken by countries having different levels of economic development. Some rely on existing social programs, sometimes expanding or modifying them; others introduce new, innovative measures. The speakers tried to answer different kind of questions related to the social protection to be provided after the end of the pandemic, challenges to be met and solutions and approaches to be supported. The workshop discussed these questions through the lens of international and Russian experience in social support.
Video recording
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Speakers: |
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Ugo Gentilini, Global Lead for Social Assistance with the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank Is Covid-19 a Game Changer for Social Protection? The presentation will review key trends and features in social protection responses worldwide, discuss emerging innovations and challenges, and reflect on possible implications for the future of social protection |
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Oksana Sinyavskaya, Deputy Director, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics Alina Pishnyak, Director, Center for Studies of Income and Living Standards, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics Social Support in Russia during Covid-19: Government Action vs Reaction of Society |
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The paper analyses social support measures taken in Russia in 2020 in response to the challenges of the pandemic at the federal and regional levels, and how the population assesses the proposed measures. The prospects for social protection development in the post-Pandemic recovery period are discussed, including through the prism of public expectations. |
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Moderator: |
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Oksana Sinyavskaya, Deputy Director, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics |
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Panelist: |
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Elena Grishina, Head, Laboratory for Living Standards and Social Protection Research, Institute of Social Analysis and Forecasting, RANEPA |
Russian medias about the event: Kommersant Newspaper (dated December 18, 2020)
On October 22, 2020, the Institute for Social Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics hold the 14th academic workshop on the topic of Modelling the distributional impact of the Covid19 Crisis in Russia: application of themicrosimulation model RUSMOD. The event was organized on the online platform Zoom in cooperation with the World Bank within the series of events under the topic “Active Ageing Policy and Pension Reforms: Russian and International Experience”.
The event heard the presentation assured by Mikhail MATYTSIN, Economist, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank, Daria POPOVA, Leading Research Fellow, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics, and Deputy Director, Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis, ISER, University of Essex and Samuel FREIJE-RODRIGUEZ, Lead Economist, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank. Vladimir GIMPELSON, Director, Center of Labor Market Studies, Higher School of Economics, Svetlana MAREEVA, Director, Center for Stratification Studies, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics, Lilia OVCHAROVA, Vice Rector, Director of the Institute for Social Policy, HSE, and Ruslan YEMTSOV, Human Development Program Leader for China, Mongolia and Korea, World Bank, joined the discussion moderated by Oksana SINYAVSKAYA, Deputy Director, Institute for Social Policy, HSE.
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Mikhail Matysin, Economist, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank
Daria Popova, Leading Research Fellow, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics, and Deputy Director, Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis, ISER, University of Essex
Samuel Freije-Rodríguez, Lead Economist, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank
Modelling the distributional impact of the Covid19 Crisis in Russia: application of themicrosimulation model RUSMOD This paper presents the results of the impact assessment of the COVID19 crisis and the related policy interventions on the income distribution and poverty. The analyses are based on RUSMOD, the tax-benefit model for Russia, which allows for assessing the redistributive effects of most existing taxes and benefits in Russia at the federal and the regional level.We find that the crisis has affected the bottom of the distribution to a smaller extent than the top deciles, that are more dependent on labor incomes. Fiscal and social policies adopted before and after the crisis benefitted the poor more than the rest of the population and constituted a coordinated effort to be strongly progressive. As a result, the net effect of the crisis is also strongly progressive at the bottom of the distribution. The social policy measures were mostly targeted at the families with multiple children. These are groups known to have higher poverty rates than the rest of the population, so an extension in coverage and sufficiency of these programs is expected to have a progressive, poverty-reducing impact. At the regional level the effect is also pro-poor: poorer regions suffer less from the income contraction and benefit more from the fiscal and social policy measures than the richer ones. The poverty rates declined in the poorer regions and increased in the richer ones as a result of the analyzed interventions. |
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Moderators: |
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Oksana Sinyavskaya, Deputy Director, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics |
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Svetlana Mareeva, Director, Center of Stratification Studies |
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Panelists: |
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Ruslan Yemtsov, Human Development Program Leader for China, Mongolia and Korea,World Bank |
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Vladimir Gimpelson, Director, Center of Labor Market Studies,Higher School of Economics |
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Svetlana Mareeva, Director, Center of Stratification Studies |
On June 18, 2020 the Institute for Social Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics hold ts 12th academic workshop on the topic of COVID-19 and Long-Term Care Development: Lessons and Perspectives. The event is organized on the online platform Zoom in cooperation with the World Bank and with the support of the Russian National Association of social service providers (NASO) within the series of events under the topic “Active Ageing Policy and Pension Reforms: Russian and International Experience”.
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Dr. Elena Glinskaya, Lead Economist at the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, World Bank COVID-19 and Protecting the Elderly Dependent on LTC COVID-19 has impacted nearly everyone, but for people who are dependent on others for support in essential activities of daily life, the pandemic has had especially serious consequences. The frail elderly population commonly falls into this category of dependent people. Because dependent people need to receive help from others in their everyday life to function, they cannot practice social distancing and therefore have a higher risk of contracting the virus. Furthermore, in addition to their dependency status, physiological factors contribute to compounded impact on the frail elderly, due to the higher susceptibility and mortality among this group. The presentation will briefly review information available from selected economies and international agencies and NGOs that have introduced guidance or actionable measures to safeguard the elderly living residential facilities in response to the spread of COVID-19. It will then draw lessons, particularly for Middle Income Countries (MICs), both for the immediate response to protect those most vulnerable, as well as for the medium-term response to strengthen the health and safety for the frail elderly for the long-term reforms that aim to build efficient, equitable, and resilient care systems. |
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EvgenyYakushev, Head, Laboratory for pension system development, Institute for Social Policy, HSE Coronarisis and its impact on LTC in Russia COVID-19 started penetrating into Russia a little later. It gave the national authorities time and opportunity to study the experience of the countries that faced the pandemic first. To sum up, it should be noted that on the one hand, the adopted sanitary-epidemiological restrictions have reduced the rate of COVID-19 spread and prevented a significant increase in mortality. On the other hand, a whole complex of problems related to long-term care depended population has been revealed, namely: kinship care has been hampered due to restrictions on movement, procedural delays in PPE (personal protective equipment) supplies to LTC residences, the lack of mechanisms for effective interaction with non-governmental social service providers. The unwillingness to act during the crisis has led to a number of “kinks” by the public authorities, including the initiation of criminal cases against these institutions’ administrations that have allowed outbreaks of disease among their residents. Missing systemic information disclosure and public and private organizations monitoring led to attempts to conceal cases of infection, which in turn increased incidence in some LTC residences. A significant number of single LTC depended pensioners and citizens who were not registered in the social security system turned out to be a surprise for the authorities: it required additional changes in the rules of self-isolation and state support for the volunteer movement. Given the current discussion on the long-term care development, it is necessary to take into account increasing demand for these services in the coming years due to the ageing process and the “demographic wave”. The lack of modern care infrastructure for elderly becomes very noticeable while comparing Russia with other countries. The funds allocated for the national project “Demography” envisage gradual renewal of the current state care infrastructure. Strategic planning should include the establishment of a sustainable financial model of care, including additional funding from the State and a social insurance system for the cost of LTC. Creating some mechanisms for competition and improving the quality of LTC services is one of opportunities. It could be done through involving non-governmental organizations, namely private companies, social entrepreneurs and socially oriented NGOs, as well as through improving supervision and control systems. |
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Moderator: |
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Oksana Sinyavskaya, Deputy Director, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics |
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Panelists: |
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Elena Tarasenko, Associate Professor, National Research University Higher School of Economics |
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Alexei Mavrin, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Founder of the Guest House Network for the Elderly «Opeka», Chairman of the Home Care Committee of NASO Association |
On April 23, 2020, the Institute for Social Policy at HSE University hold its 11th academic workshop devoted to Social service system in crisis: what changes are needed to reduce risks and improve the quality of life of citizens with limited self-service? Possibility of Using Assets to Finance Social Services: Reverse Mortgages Pro&Contra was organized on the online platform ZOOM with the support of the Russian National Association of social service providers (NASO).
The issues related to the right to life of people in loss of autonomy in terms of the СOVID-19 pandemic are reaching a new level. Weaknesses in interdisciplinary collaboration between social protection, health care and palliative care institutions have been identified. Involvement of volunteers in delivering food to lonely retirees, and substitution of sick social security workers are forming a new reality and necessitating a review of the model of functioning and funding permanent help and care systems. The State implements various social programs, but their volume and quality are conditioned by budget possibilities. Actual financial restrictions push to introduce various criteria of granting social support and mechanisms for targeting social assistance which limit their reception. At the same time, citizens' expectations are growing. A generation is retiring, which, on the one hand, expects a higher level of service and, on the other hand, has not managed to form an additional financial airbag.
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Ariy Okonishnikov, project manager, LLC Center of Economic Infrastructure Reverse Mortgages: Necessary Conditions for its Implementation in Russia Reverse mortgages are a type of perpetual mortgage loan secured by housing without loss of ownership and residence rights. Borrowers are elderly people who need to improve their financial situation. Reverse mortgages are mainly used in Anglo-Saxon countries, especially popular in the UK. Comparing reverse mortgages to other loan products reveals that they are not serviced by the borrower but there are no monthly installments on the loan, and the lender has no recourse rights. The report proposes a possible option for organizing reverse mortgages in Russia, where they have not been used so far. Necessary conditions for selling back mortgages in Russia have been formulated, which will allow elderly people to use the funds capitalized in real estate to finance social service costs
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Svetlana Misikhina, Deputy Director, Center of Development Institute, HSE Presented issues: reverse mortgages potential to finance expensive treatment and social care in case of serious illness; reverse mortgage and complementary health insurance development scenarios; assessing the amount of reverse mortgage financial resources to insure the risks of expensive treatment and care for severe diseases on a solidarity basis Misikhina_Workshop ISP_23-04-2020_RUS (PDF, 870 Kb)
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Sergei Zaitsev, General Director, Russian National Association of social service providers (NASO) Presented issues: implementing life-long contracts; assessing the sector (number of users, nature of lenders); key terms of concluded contracts; situations occurring while implementing contracts (fire, force majeure); assessing the economic effect of deals on flats; eventual limitations to the growth of the sector; black realtors and risks of citizens
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EvgenyYakushev, Head, Laboratory for pension system development, Institute for Social Policy, HSE Presented issues: preliminary results of modeling the need for care up to 2040; assessments of care costs and the need for additional funding for social services; international social financing models; possible areas of improvement of the system of permanent foreign care in Russia
Yakushev_Workshop ISP_23-04-2020_RUS (PDF, 1.35 Mb) |
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Maxim Kvasha, Vice President, KROS Presented issues: old age perception; pension preparation strategies to choose; place for a reverse mortgage; communication issues
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Aleksei Pudovkin, Head of Investor Relations in DOM.RF, Head of Capital Markets in DOM.RF Bank Presented issues: mortgage as the main segment, figures and volume of the market, its prospects, etc.
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Yury Voronin, Head, Center for Legal Support of Social and Economic Reforms, Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation Presented issues: necessity to review the long-term care system; quantification of care needs
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On February 25, 2020, the Institute for Social Policy at HSE University held its 10th academic workshop devoted to Asian Long-Term Care Systems: Cases of China and Japan. This workshop being part of the series of events on Active Ageing Policy and Pension Reforms: Russian and International Experience was organized in cooperation with the World Bank and with the support of the Russian National Association of social service providers (NASO).
The workshop focused on serious challenges of rapid population ageing due to extremely low fertility and rising life expectancy that developed and rapidly developing countries in North-East Asia are facing. Thus, Japan is the country with the highest life expectancy in the world and the oldest population structure; and China’s population ageing rate is among the highest in the world. Moreover, simultaneously with demographic processes that change the balance between generations, traditional family ties are weakening. The workshop tried to understand how the issue of long-term care, the demand for which grows with increasing life expectancy is being addressed in these conditions; how Asian societies are addressing the issue of co-funding of care by families and the State; what new forms of care, in addition to traditional kinship care, are emerging in these countries.
Speakers:
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Ruslan YEMTSOV, Human Development Program Leader for China, Mongolia and Korea,World Bank Long-term care in China: system overview The organization and provision of long-term care for older persons is an important topic for China, where the proportion of the elderly population is steadily increasing. The report will analyse long-term trends and projections of the need for such care, the economic and social impact of the increasing demand for this type of services and the challenges that remain. The report will also present principles for determining the need for long-term care, approaches to financing it and the forms of provision and effective demand for such services. |
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Vasiliy ANIKIN, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Stratification Studies, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics An ageing society challenges the traditional practices used in long-term care. The prior role of the family in this process has weakened very much, which has forced many OECD countries to develop and implement universal programs for long-term care. The latter provide older people having physical and mental illnesses with a good quality of life. Japan has developed an original solution to this challenge, mandatory public Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) program, which replaced the Golden Plan in the early 2000s. The author presents the Japanese experience in organizing LTCI, which significantly reduced mortality in retirement age, supporting Japan's progress in ensuring active longevity. The presentation also suggests recommendations for Russia. |
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Discussion participant: |
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Valery VINOGRADOV, Head, PR and Press Department, Financial Ombudsman Office |
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Valentin ROIK, Chief Research Fellow, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Labor, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation |
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Workshop's photos on the link
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Our Publications: First Edition "Active Ageing Policy and Pension Reforms: Russian and International Experience", Collection of Papers Edited by Oksana Sinyavskaya and Olga Voron
The book recently produced by the Institute for Social Policy includes papers written by Russian and foreign experts on the basis of their interventions delivered in 2019 at the HSE regular academic workshop “Active Ageing Policy and Pension Reforms: Russian and International Experience”.
The papers cover different issues, namely developping social insurance in 21st centuary, forming a long-term care system, and foreign and Russian experience of pension reforms.
Our authors:
- Yuri Voronin, Chief Financial Commissioner, Director of the Center for Legal Support of Social and Economic Reforms, Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation
- Pierre-Louis Bras, President, Pensions Advisory Council (France)
- Anne Lavigne, General Secretary, Pensions Advisory Council (France)
- Olga Rajevska, PhD, Researcher, Scientific Institute of Economics and Management, University of Latvia (Latvia)
- Dr. Heinz Rudolph, Lead Financial Sector Economist, World Bank
- Evgeny Gontmakher, Coordinating Board Member, European Dialogue Expert Group, Professor, Higher School of Economics
- Alexander Safonov, Vice Rector of Academy of Labor and Social Relations
- Dmitri Pomazkine, Chief Expert, Laboratory for Pension System Development, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics
- Evgueniy Yakushev, Head, Laboratory for Pension System Development, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics, Chairman of the Board, Russian National Association of social service providers (NASO)
- Oxana Sinyavskaya, Deputy Director, Institute for Social Policy, Higher School of Economics
- Ramaz Akhmeteli, CEO and the owner of the Company Yellow Cross, President of Russian Red Cross’s Charity foundation, member of Civic Council under the Russian Labor ministry, member of EAN
- Sergey Belyakov, President, Association of private pension funds (ANPF)
The book can be consulted here
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