This book is unique as it presents an academic and a practical aspect on managing pension funds to clarify the global debate on social security. The authors establish the basic choices in designating any system to help policy makers develop the system that achieves their many objectives. They examine reforms in Latin America to highlight flaws and to estimate the true cost of these reforms and factors affecting these costs. The authors then discuss how the United States and Spain can implement robust systems incorporating many of the ideal features. The success of reforms depends on financial innovation to mitigate key risks and some innovations are discussed, which also demonstrates how pension reform choices affect the achievement of retirement objectives. Finally, the authors examine some proposed hybrid options to show how the beneficial features of these hybrids can be captured through good design in a single fund.

佛朗哥·莫迪利亚尼（Franco Modigliani）教授曾是麻省理工学院经济学和金融学教授，并因其在金融市场功能和家庭储蓄行为分析的开创性工作而荣膺1985年诺贝尔经济学奖。他的著作大多与社会保障、资本市场、货币供给、欧元和失业有关。主要著作有《稳定政策之争论》（The Debate over Stabilization Policy）和自传《经济学家的探险》（Adventures of an Economist）。他的学术论文被编为五卷，于1980年至1989年出版。