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Project
Pension funds in the European Union: A partner for long-term investments? (FWOTM820)
During the last years, the European Union is confronted with an important lack of funding for long-term investments. Different international institutions highlight the pension fund industry as a potential partner to address this issue. Recently, the European Commission launched several policy initiatives to stimulate long-term investments, including measures that affect pension funds. However, the question is to what extend pension funds are an efficient and effective channel to finance long-term assets.
The academic literature offers little answers: the results are often contradictory and the focus is too much on traditional assets. Therefore, this research will analyze the entire portfolio – including alternative assets – to evaluate which parameters influence pension funds’ asset allocation. Hereafter, we will perform surveys and in-depth interviews with different stakeholders to further interpret the results. This approach allows us to assess which hurdles occur for investments in long-term assets and how we can overcome them. For this project, we will collaborate with the Belgian Association of Pension Institutions and PensionsEurope. This partnership allows us to access new databases, which have never been used for scientific research. In addition, their networks allow us to perform an inclusive qualitative research. Consequently, this project will create a further understanding of the pension fund industry, which is important for academia, policy makers and society.
The academic literature offers little answers: the results are often contradictory and the focus is too much on traditional assets. Therefore, this research will analyze the entire portfolio – including alternative assets – to evaluate which parameters influence pension funds’ asset allocation. Hereafter, we will perform surveys and in-depth interviews with different stakeholders to further interpret the results. This approach allows us to assess which hurdles occur for investments in long-term assets and how we can overcome them. For this project, we will collaborate with the Belgian Association of Pension Institutions and PensionsEurope. This partnership allows us to access new databases, which have never been used for scientific research. In addition, their networks allow us to perform an inclusive qualitative research. Consequently, this project will create a further understanding of the pension fund industry, which is important for academia, policy makers and society.
Date:1 Oct 2016 → 1 Jul 2020
Keywords:pension fund, european union, investment
Disciplines:Development planning and policy