Paul Bingley

NBER International Social Security Project

Twelve phases of parallel country studies on retirement and social security, and the volumes they became.

The project asks one question at a time. Each country team answers it on its own administrative or survey data, following a template agreed at the outset, so that the chapters can be read against one another. The introduction to each volume draws the comparison, and the country chapters carry the detail behind it.

The question has moved over the twelve phases. The early volumes asked how retirement incentives affect when people stop working, and what reform would cost the public finances. The middle ones took up health, disability insurance and the capacity to keep working at older ages. The phases now in production ask who gains and who loses from the reforms of the last two decades.

Each row in the figure below is one phase, marked with the month it opened, the meetings it held, the page proofs and the month the volume appeared. Phases overlap, because a volume is still in production while the next question is already being worked, and a single meeting often serves two phases at once. One row carries no volume. A strand on well-being in later life held four meetings and a set of manuscripts between 2004 and 2008, and was not carried through to publication.

Twelve phases of the International Social Security project, with their meetings, page proofs and volumes II Micro-Estimation, 1999 to 2002, 2 meetings, volume published January 2004; III Fiscal Implications, 2001 to 2006, 4 meetings, volume published October 2007; Well-Being, 2004 to 2008, 4 meetings; IV Youth Employment, 2005 to 2008, 3 meetings, volume published February 2010; V Historical Trends, 2008 to 2012, 4 meetings, volume published September 2012; VI Disability Insurance, 2011 to 2015, 4 meetings, volume published January 2016; VII Capacity to Work, 2014 to 2016, 3 meetings, volume published May 2017; VIII Working Longer, 2015 to 2019, 2 meetings, volume published December 2019; IX Reforms and Incentives, 2017 to 2020, 5 meetings, volume published February 2021; X Effects of Reforms, 2017 to 2024, 7 meetings, volume published February 2025; XI Income Distribution, 2020 to 2026, 5 meetings; XII Health Distribution, 2023 to 2026, 2 meetings. 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Social Security and Retirement around the World (NBER Jan 1999) I Social Security, Retirement II Micro-Estimation Siena, 1-3 June 2000 (arrive 31 May) San Sebastián, 6-9 September 2001 Micro-Estimation (NBER January 2004) III Fiscal Implications Rüdesheim, 23-26 May 2002 Nafplion, 18-20 September 2003 London, 28-30 May 2004 Bellagio, 26-28 May 2005 Fiscal Implications of Reform (NBER October 2007) Well-Being London, 28-30 May 2004 Bellagio, 26-28 May 2005 Barcelona, 18-21 May 2006 Sicily, 24-26 May 2007 IV Youth Employment Barcelona, 18-21 May 2006 Sicily, 24-26 May 2007 Lisbon, 22-25 May 2008 The Relationship to Youth Employment (NBER February 2010) V Historical Trends Paris, 6 March 2009 (pre-conference) Florence, 21-24 May 2009 Lisbon, 27-30 May 2010 Aix-en-Provence, 2-5 June 2011 Page proofs, 2012-03-14 Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participation and Reforms (NBER September 2012) VI Disability Insurance Munich, 19-22 January 2012 Rome, 24-27 May 2012 Paris, 28 February-3 March 2013 Madrid, 26-29 September 2013 Page proofs, 2015-07-13 Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement (NBER January 2016) VII Capacity to Work Aix-en-Provence, 18-21 September 2014 Paris, 12-15 February 2015 (interim) Taormina, 21-25 May 2015 Page proofs, 2016-12-05 The Capacity to Work at Older Ages (NBER May 2017) VIII Working Longer Paris, 3-6 December 2015 Paris, 22-25 September 2016 Page proofs, 2019-07-25 Working Longer (NBER December 2019) IX Reforms and Incentives Venice, 20-23 April 2017 Munich, 16-18 November 2017 Washington DC, 23-24 May 2018 Munich, 13-15 December 2018 Barcelona, 12-14 September 2019 Page proofs, 2020-07-29 Reforms and Retirement Incentives (NBER February 2021) X Effects of Reforms Venice, 20-23 April 2017 Washington DC, 23-24 May 2018 Munich, 13-15 December 2018 Barcelona, 12-14 September 2019 Zoom, 22-23 October 2020 (Venice, 16-19 April 2020, cancelled for Covid-19) Stockholm, 1-3 June 2023 London, 16-18 November 2023 Page proofs, 2024-08-29 The Effects of Reforms on Retirement Behavior (NBER February 2025) XI Income Distribution Zoom, 22-23 October 2020 (Venice, 16-19 April 2020, cancelled for Covid-19) Venice, 12-13 September 2022 Stockholm, 1-3 June 2023 London, 16-18 November 2023 Eibsee, 19-21 June 2025 Page proofs, 2026-03-20 The Effects of Pension Reforms on the Income Distribution of Retirees (forthcoming) XII Health Distribution London, 16-18 November 2023 Eibsee, 19-21 June 2025 Page proofs, 2026-07-26 Pension Reforms and the Health Distribution of Retirees (forthcoming) Meeting Page proofs Volume Forthcoming

Rows are phases, numbered as the volumes are. A dot is a meeting, a star a set of page proofs, and the square at the right-hand end the month the volume appeared on the NBER list.

The Twelve Phases

Volumes II to XI each carry a Denmark chapter of mine; the links below go to the entry on the publication page. The work towards volume XII is so far an NBER working paper.

Volume II. Micro-Estimation

Gruber and Wise · NBER January 2004 · 2 meetings

Met at Siena, San Sebastián

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume III. Fiscal Implications of Reform

Gruber and Wise · NBER October 2007 · 4 meetings

Met at Rüdesheim, Nafplion, London, Bellagio

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Well-Being

never published · 4 meetings

Met at London, Bellagio, Barcelona, Sicily

Volume IV. The Relationship to Youth Employment

Gruber and Wise · NBER February 2010 · 3 meetings

Met at Barcelona, Sicily, Lisbon

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume V. Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participation and Reforms

Wise · NBER September 2012 · 4 meetings

Met at Paris, Florence, Lisbon, Aix-en-Provence

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume VI. Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement

Wise · NBER January 2016 · 4 meetings

Met at Munich, Rome, Paris, Madrid

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume VII. The Capacity to Work at Older Ages

Wise · NBER May 2017 · 3 meetings

Met at Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Taormina

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume VIII. Working Longer

Coile, Milligan and Wise · NBER December 2019 · 2 meetings

Met at Paris, Paris

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume IX. Reforms and Retirement Incentives

Borsch-Supan and Coile · NBER February 2021 · 5 meetings

Met at Venice, Munich, Washington DC, Munich, Barcelona

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume X. The Effects of Reforms on Retirement Behavior

Borsch-Supan and Coile · NBER February 2025 · 7 meetings

Met at Venice, Washington DC, Munich, Barcelona, Zoom, Stockholm, London

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume XI. The Effects of Pension Reforms on the Income Distribution of Retirees

Borsch-Supan and Coile · NBER forthcoming · 5 meetings

Met at Zoom, Venice, Stockholm, London, Eibsee

Introduction and summaryDenmark chapter

Volume XII. Pension Reforms and the Health Distribution of Retirees

Borsch-Supan and Coile · NBER forthcoming · 2 meetings

Met at London, Eibsee

Introduction and summaryDenmark working paper

The Summary Paper

All the participants wrote a joint account of how the collaboration has worked and what it has produced.

Teams

The team as the three most recent meetings record it, at Stockholm in June 2023, London in November 2023 and Eibsee in June 2025.

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