Politics Of Pension Welfare In Post-Communist States: Mechanisms Of Pension System Formation

Abstract The paper examines the mechanisms of reforming pension systems in 27 post-communist countries. The mechanisms of pension reformation are defined as a combination of political, economic, and social factors (dependent variables), under which there is a transition from one type of pension system to another. At the same time, the work theoretically describes and highlights various models of pension systems, known and hypothetical mechanisms of their formation. On the empirical side, a qualitative analysis of the legislation was carried out to highlight changes in pension systems in 27 cases from 2004 to 2019. The typology of pension systems as a dependent variable is the result of a numerical index based on the criteria of liberalization, privatization, and compulsory. The next step is to use panel end-to-end pooled panel OLS regression and panel regression with fixed effects. As a result, the mechanisms for reforming pension systems are identified: separately for post-Soviet and post-communist countries. For example, in more authoritarian post-soviet systems, high the percentage of retirees and the period with limited political participation lead to pension reform. Reforms in more democratic post-communist systems is characterized by a more protracted period in the executive branch and an increase in the pension replacement rate. For both mechanisms, the form of control is important: the transfer of authority to the National Bank increases the chances of reversing the pension system.