For more than fifty years, pensions have been the subject of academic enquiry and controversy. Debates have raged over, amongst other things, the need for pensions, the means by which they might be delivered, their implications for the public finances, their impact on people's employment motivations and their significance for national and global capital markets. These debates, and others, have spawned a vast and disparate literature.Currently, the issue that most often exercises the minds of academics and policy makers is that of pension reform. It is widely recognised that decades of social and economic change have rendered obsolete the pension arrangements in many developed and developing countries. The question of what now constitutes an appropriate set of pension arrangements is, however, far from settled. Opinions are divided over whether existing national pension systems can be modified to make them fit contemporary needs and circumstances, or whether they should be jettisoned in favour of something entirely different.Central to the analysis of many issues in pension provision is the universal phenomenon of population ageing. Around the world, falling birth rates and rising life expectancy are raising the ratio of elderly to working age people. For several decades the literature on pensions and population ageing has been extremely negative. Recently, though, a series of books and papers have appeared which argue for a more benign, less pessimistic, interpretation of population ageing.This four volume collection will be divided into four major themes, as outlined below. The papers and articles included in each volume will be selected so as to reflect the multi-disciplinary nature of the subject and the interest it has aroused internationally.Volume One: The Promise of PensionsThe material contained in this volume will focus on the rationale for private and public pension provision and the development of theories and concepts relevant to the study of pensions and pension funding. Wherever possible, papers and articles will be selected to illustrate opposing views on contentious issues. The aim will be to present the subject of pensions and pension funding in its broadest historical, economic, social and political context.Volume Two: Working for PensionsThis volume will develop key themes and issues in employer-provided occupational pensions that were introduced in volume one. Emphasis will be given to the contradictions and complementarity of occupational and state pension provision. Problems and limitations of occupational pension provision will be highlighted and some famous scandals will be described and analysed. The potential for private occupational pensions to fill the widening gap arising from the reform of state pension systems will also be considered.Volume Three: Do-It-Yourself PensionsThis volume will focus on personal saving for retirement through private individual pensions. It will chart the rise in popularity, amongst policy-makers and opinion formers, of individual saving for retirement. Comparisons will be drawn between the voluntary systems of individual pension saving in Europe and North America and the compulsory approach taken in Latin America and Australia.Volume Four: The Challenge of Pension ReformThis volume will address the issue of pension reform. It will focus on the two key questions of pension reform. What set of pension arrangements is appropriate to the social and economic circumstances prevailing today? What is the best way to manage the transition to a new, more appropriate, set of pension arrangements? Papers and articles will be selected which provide contrasting analysis of past and present attempts at reform.