Our purpose of this paper is to seek an understanding of which service quality factors that affects customers in their decision making progress regarding purchasing financial services such as pension products. We also seek to evaluate the different service quality factors by compare their relative strength against each other. The study aim to investigate if there are any connections between customer behavior variables such as gender, age and income in comparison to these service quality factors related to pension products.The findings aim to help a small financial institute such as our case company Plain Capital to understand how their customers experience service quality regarding pension products. In order to find empirical results we conducted a qualitative research as well a quantitative research. The qualitative research employed both a focus group interview with pension savers and an interview with our case company Plain Capital. We were able to identify the service quality factors for pension’s products with help from the focus group interview. The quantitative research employed a visited survey, which measure connections between customer behavior variables such as gender, age and income in comparison to these service quality factors related to pension products. The qualitative endings show that the service quality experience regarding pension products is based on eight service quality factors. The eight service quality factors identified in this study are physical environment, Webb environment, phone environment, financial performance, pension advising, level of individualization, characteristics of financial advisors and level of feedback. The quantitative findings show that characteristics of financial advisors are the one with the highest average out of the eight service quality factors, followed by level of individualization and Webb environment. The hypotheses tests show that there are four significant connections between the eight service quality factors and consumer behavior variables. This study identifies eight service factors that together represent the total service quality for pension products in Sweden. The financial institutions that offer pension products can, by improving these eight service quality factors, increase their customers perceived service quality. The finding of this study shows that small and local companies like our case company Plain Capital should focus on their characteristics of financial advisors to build a long term customer relations, increase their individualization in their offers depending of gender and level of income and finally increase their quality of their Webb environment in order to expand in new geographical locations.

The research puzzle of the thesis is to investigate how policy discourse mediates domestic policy adjustment consequent on commitments entered into at the domestic level by the European Union. Conceptually, it adopts the discursive institutionalist framework as developed by Vivien Schmidt and Claudio Radaelli. Empirically, it chooses a single-case study approach to focus on the Greek old-age pension policy adjustment during 1990-2002. The thesis also appraises the process of Europeanization. It adopts the ‘bottom-up’ approach to Europeanization as developed by Claudio Radaelli. Under this scope it’s analysis does not start from EU policy commitments as an independent variable, but from a system of interaction at the domestic level. Conceptually, the thesis looks at policy discourse as a consensus and legitimacy building resource. It focuses on the discursive interactions of key policy actors and analyses how they use policy discourse in order to justify the necessity and the appropriateness of policy adjustment in a given institutional context. The thesis suggests that the discursive institutionalist argument of how policy discourse facilitates policy adjustment puts too much emphasis on the governmental discourse and that the input of the rest of key policy actors must be included in the analysis. It thus proposes the integration of certain elements of the Neo-Positivist Narrative Analysis framework to discursive institutionalism. The argument claims that policy actors’ discourse will take the form of policy narratives that either expand or contain the policy issue. The institutional context will determine the level at which the discursive interaction will take place. In simple polities like Greece, discourse will be thicker at the communicative level and thinner at the coordinative. The effectiveness of discourse will be determined by the level of trust between the government, the key policy actors and the public. The empirical analysis points to a number of domestic factors that restrict the effectiveness of policy discourse and the process of Europeanization, which fall outside the pension policy area and Greece. The thesis also contributes to the advancement of discursive institutionalism. Firstly, it incorporates narrative analysis to the study of discourse. Secondly, it highlights certain limitations, it suggests ways that discursive institutionalism could be improved and directions towards which it could be fruitfully developed.

The principle of solidarity versus the principle of equivalence in the Czech social security law. This thesis deals with the principles of solidarity and equivalence in social security. The aim is to describe the importance of solidarity as a fundamental basis for the foundation of modern social security and to compare it with the principle of equivalence, which is often placed in contrast to solidarity. The work defines both principles generally and to capture their specific manifestations it focuses on pension security. The work consists of an introduction, two chapters which are divided into subsections, and a conclusion. The first chapter deals with both principles generally, describing their historical development and outlining ideas of selected domestic and foreign authors who have dealt with the principles in question. This chapter also summarizes the important jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court in the area. One of the subsections is dedicated to the principle of justice which is a principle closely related to the main principles in question. The second chapter is focused on pension security in the Czech Republic. It follows in detail the genesis of legal regulations of pension security in the Czech Republic in terms of the principles in question. It characterizes the current legal...

This theses focuses on disability pensions in Czech republic. It explores historical development of legislation related to this type of social benefit and it also anylyzes current state of legislation. It investigates proces which follows after handing in the application and assessment of health condition and also forms of appeal. The text of the thesis then concerns with Medical Assessment Service, which provides assessment of health for purposes of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Medical Assessment Service deals with long-term problems with organization. The thesis reports on related studies of possible reorganization of Medical Assessment Service which were requested by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The issue is also analyzed from ombudsman's point of view.

Dans les récentes années, les pays industrialisés, comme le Canada, connaissent de plus en plus d'améliorations de la qualité de vie, des progrès médicaux, la paix, etc. Ceci a contribué à une baisse considérable des taux de mortalité, autrement dit, une amélioration de l'espérance de vie. L'industrie d'assurance et les fonds de pension subissent ce changement démographique et s'inquiètent de ce risque de long évité dans le futur. Il est donc très important, pour ces organismes assureurs de pouvoir prédire l'évolution de la mortalité dans le futur d'une manière adéquate. Dans ce mémoire nous allons modéliser la mortalité par le modèle le plus classique en actuariat Lee-Carter, 1992 puis par le modèle de Fung et al, 2015 qui est un modèle financier stochastique à deux facteurs, le premier facteur est général pour toute la population et le deuxième est spécifique à l'âge. En effet, nous considérons le modèle de Lee-Carter comme un benchmark puisqu'il est le modèle standard utilisé dans l'industrie de l'assurance. Le modèle de Fung et al est un modèle de type affine et gaussien, modèles fréquemment utilisés en finance pour la modélisation du taux d'intérêt. Nous allons tester le fit du modèle Fung et al en le comparant au fit offert par Lee-Carter. Ensuite, nous abordons des portefeuilles de rentes viagères. Une rente viagère est une série de paiements périodiques dont le versement est garanti jusqu'au décès du rentier, ces versements sont faits en échange d'un capital de départ. On les nomme aussi des portefeuilles d'annuités. C'est un produit implicitement offert par les fonds de pension à prestations déterminés. Le risque de longévité peut entraîner des hausses de coûts substantielles pour ces régimes. Nous introduisons par la suite des produits financiers dérives de longévité, pour transférer ce risque, comme les Swaps et les Caps de longévité. Un Swap de longévité est une série de forwards de long évité et chaque forward est un contrat de couverture du risque de longévité o ù le régime de retraite verse à une contrepartie des paiements fixes déterminés par les taux de mortalité estimés par le modèle de Fung et al, en échange, la contrepartie verse au régime des paiements variables dépendant des taux de survie observés dans la population des rentiers. Pour le Cap de long évité, il est sous forme d'options d'achat dont le sous-jacent est encore le taux de survie de la population cible. Après nous être assurés que le modèle de Fung et al performe au moins aussi bien que le modèle de Lee-Carter, nous l'utiliserons pour étudier les couvertures de portefeuilles de rentes à l'aide de Swaps et Caps de long évité respectivement. Le modèle nous permet en plus un ajustement risque-neutre, c.à.d une calibration à d'autres instruments de longévité transigés dans le marché.

ABSTRACT South Africa has a sophisticated and developed retirement fund industry and an extensive social security system. While the objective of the latter is wider, both are concerned with financial security: particularly in the face of risks of death, disability and old age. It is widely recognised that there are many gaps in coverage. The chapters in this thesis address these gaps and administrative and benefit structures that could be developed to provide a truly comprehensive social security system. In particular, the thesis discusses the retirement and old age recommendations of the Taylor Committee, on which the author served. The vision is of universal coverage for the current state benefits augmented by mandatory employer based group schemes that offer disability, retirement and orphans' pensions. Means tests, the Road Accident Fund and workers' compensation arrangements would be abolished. The chapters of the thesis are each self-contained, having all been published in – or submitted to – journals, books or conferences. In each, an attempt has been made to review a broader literature than is normally used to discover the impact of some element of the benefit structure, governance or investment policies of retirement schemes on their members. In this context, it is considered to be particularly appropriate to test policies and governance against the standard of justice

The post apartheid South African government inherited a racially designed social protection system. This system was discriminatory, mainly served the white population and excluded the majority of black South Africans. Recognising this discrepancy, the ANC government embarked on the transformation of the existing social welfare programs which aimed at ensuring that basic welfare rights are provided to all citizens, priotising those who had historically been disadvantaged. Many years have passed since the democratic government came to power and started to carry out reforms that were aimed at increasing coverage of both occupational and social pensions. While great slides have been made in extending coverage of social pensions, ironically, only slightly more than half (52%) of South Africa’s 12.6 million workers are covered. This study aimed at investigating the extent to which trade unions have been able to influence policy formulation related to social protection, especially those aimed at increasing coverage of social and occupational pensions. The study focused on the roles played by CONSAWU and COSATU and it used in-depth interviews as the main tool for collecting data. Interviewees were identified using purposive sampling from both trade unions and government departments that closely deal with social protection issues. The study has revealed that trade unions’ influence in policy formulation for social protection has not been effective enough. This could be attributed in part to the paternalistic approach by government departments towards labour in policy issues and inadequate vigilance from trade unions to claim their rightful position.

Att stå inför beslut och val kring pensionering är något som berör, eller kommer beröra, nästan alla. Syftet med studien var att få en djupare förståelse för människors inställning till att gå i pension och vad som påverkar vid vilken ålder man väljer att sluta arbeta. Studien bygger på tio intervjuer med personer 50 till 65 år gamla som arbetar inom olika yrken. De valdes ut genom en kombination av snöbollsurval och strategiskt urval. Teorin består av olika teman som berör olika aspekter i arbetslivet och privatlivet som kan tänkas ha en påverkan på individen och således även tankar och planering kring pensionen. Exempel på några av de teman som berörs är emotioner, work-life balance och livscykelteorin vilket innefattar ekonomiskt sparande och planering. Intervjuguiden utformades efter alla olika teman. I analysdelen sammankopplades empirin med teorin, och resultatet visade att respondenterna inte ansåg det skamligt att gå i pension tidigare, och det fanns inte heller någon oro att råka ut för fördomar eller dåligt bemötande. Många hade börjat tänka på pensionen sent och trodde att de skulle komma att ändra sina tankar i framtiden. Det visade sig att partnerns pensionsplaner var viktigt för respondenterna och de ville i möjlig mån anpassa sitt egna beslut efter dem för att få möjlighet att spendera tid tillsammans. Det fanns en tydlig oro för hälsan i framtiden vilket också påverkade att de ville anpassa sin pensionsålder så att de skulle hinna med sakerna de ville göra. Privatlivet visade sig vara viktigt och en längtan efter att få mer tid över och att kunna disponera sin tid mer fritt genomsyrade intervjuerna. Vissa menade att de inte ville arbeta längre än till 65 då de kände sig färdiga och ville njuta av livet efter arbetslivet. Andra var öppna till att arbeta längre än till 65 om de hade möjlighet till flexibilitet, att gå ner i tid och själva bestämma när de skulle arbeta. Den ekonomiska aspekten spelade en central roll och var en av de tyngsta faktorerna när det kom till vad som kunde påverka åldern för pensionering. Om den ekonomiska biten inte skulle vara tillfredsställande nog menade respondenterna att de hade kunnat tänka sig att fortsätta arbeta efter 65.

Alkoholmissbruk bland äldre personer är ett socialt problem som blivit allt mer uppmärksammat i samhället de senaste åren. En anledning till ökningen är det faktum att landets invånare blir allt äldre, därmed växer även gruppen med äldre individer. Det framkommer dock att det inte finns några särskilda riktlinjer för äldre med en missbruksproblematik. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken betydelse avsaknaden av sociala relationer kan ha för alkoholmissbruket. Studien syftar även till att undersöka vilken behandling som kan erbjudas till alkoholmissbrukande äldre. Modellen för denna studie är en systematisk litteraturstudie där åtta vetenskapliga studier har granskats. I analysen har sedan studierna kopplats till relevanta teoretiska utgångspunkter. Resultatet visar att det kan finnas ett samband mellan sociala faktorer och alkoholkonsumtion. Resultatet visar även att rutiner gällande handläggning, hantering och behandling av äldre individer med ett alkoholmissbruk kan anses vara bristfällig. Utifrån avsaknaden av relevant forskning och kunskap är det svårt att dra några slutsatser utifrån den litteratur som har studerats. En slutsats vi dock kan poängtera är att riktlinjer gällande missbruksvård och äldreomsorg av äldre som har en missbruksproblematik behöver ses över och utvecklas.

The objective of this study is to analyze how liquidity shocks affect households\' decisions related to entrepreneurial activities in order to identify whether households are liquidity constrained. This study focused on households\' responses to anticipated income shocks, via the receipt of pension benefits, since under complete markets, decisions should not be affected by a liquidity shock when the timing and amount of that shock are known. We exploited the fact that eligibility rules for old age pension were partially determined by age and used a Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design to estimate the causal effects. The results suggest that Brazilian small business owners in the informal sector of the economy are liquidity constrained. / O objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar como choques de liquidez afetam as decisões de empreendedorismo dos domicílios a fim de identificar se os domicílios têm restrições de liquidez. Esse trabalho teve como foco a análise das respostas dos domicílios a choques antecipados de renda, advindas da aposentadoria, desde que com mercados completos, decisões não devem ser afetadas por um choque de liquidez quando o momento e a quantidade do choque são conhecidos. Utilizamos regressão descontínua para estimar este efeito causal, dado que a elegibilidade para aposentadoria por idade é parcialmente determinada pela idade do indivíduo. Os resultados sugerem que proprietários de pequenas empresas brasileiras do setor informal da economia sofrem problemas de liquidez.