THE ITALIAN PENSION SYSTEM: CAUSES, PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS

Pensions are one of the most controversial and discussed issues in our society. There are several reasons why: pensions affect all generations, impacting our past, present and future; the budget constraints to guarantee the sustainability of a pension system are poorly perceived and considered, also because of the widespread economic and financial illiteracy; pensions lead to interpersonal comparisons that typically reveal injustices and privileges that the public opinion does not tolerate. This thesis aims to investigate the historical causes that have determined the features of the Italian pension system, and therefore its problems and possible solutions. To do so, I first deal with pension systems from a theoretical point of view, discussing how pensions protect people from the risk of having insufficient income after retirement, how pension systems can be financed, how they should be designed to pursue economic adequacy and financial sustainability, how pension system and labour market are closely linked, and which are the possible pension calculation systems and access conditions (part 1). Afterwards, I focus on the historical path of the Italian pension system, since its foundation up to the interventions in the last years, and the current financial and demographic trends, in order to highlight problems and weaknesses and therefore present solutions (part 2 and 3).