Present pension structures no longer work. They were established in a more youthful period

with relatively few older people who were often poor and iii, and generally spent only a short time in retirement. In rich countries today, older people are often well-off and in good health, and are spending around 20 years in retirement. Therefore there is the need for reform.

This survey has presented the arguments for more private funding and for fairer pensions. Such changes will create motives for individuals to take charge of their own retirement needs rather than leaving the task to the state. This, in turn, will make the provision of public pensions more afford- able.

Even so, the state will continue to play a leading role in pensions. At a minimum, governments must offer a safety net, probably in the form. of a defined benefit financed through taxation, for people who for some reason have not been able to provide for themselves and who would otherwise be miserable in old age. More broadly, there is a case for the state to offer a slimmed-down pay-as-you-go pension system, although as far as possible this should be organized along defined-contributions lines. Such provision widens the range of assets to include human capital because the effective return comes from total wages, and offers a safe if low return.

Governments also have to create a suitable framework for effective private pensions. Administrative(行政的)expenses have to be tightly controlled, and appropriate tax motives have

to be offered to encourage voluntary pension saving. Where the state provides a generous safety net, private-pension saving may have to be made mandatory(强制的) , otherwise many people will not bother.

So much for the developed countries, but what of the more youthful populations of tile rest of the world？ In 1994, the World Bank came down heavily in favor of more funding in private accounts. It thought the state's role should be to provide a smallish first pillar with the limited task of providing protection against old-age poverty, and to command a privately-funded second pillar to provide the bulk of pensions.

More private funding and fairer pensions______.

A．can urge people to save more private-pensions

B．may be financed through tax

C．can lessen the burden of the state

D．can provide more public pensions