While not attempting to train readers as professional economists, this book aims to provide a secure grounding in the theory and practice of economics insofar as it deals with pension matters. From reading this book, the user will understand:
* The key types of pension scheme
* The role of pensions in maximizing individual lifetime welfare
* The role of pensions in individual savings and retirement decisions
* The role and consequences of the pension plan from the company's viewpoint
* The role of pensions in promoting aggregate savings
* The role of pensions and retirement in overlapping generations models
* The economics of ageing and intergenerational accounting
* The social welfare implications of pensions
* The lessons of behavioural economics for pensions

Dr DAVID BLAKE is Professor of Pension Economics and Director of the Pensions Institute at Cass Business School, London, and Chairman of Square Mile Consultants, a training and research consultancy. He was formerly Director of the Securities Industry Programme at City University Business School, Research Fellow at both the London Business School and the London School of Economics and Professor of Financial Economics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is consultant to many organisations, including Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Union Bank of Switzerland, JPMorgan, McKinsey & Co., the Financial Services Authority, the Office of Fair Trading, the Office for National Statistics, the Government Actuary’s Department, the National Audit Office, the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the Prime Minister’s Policy Directorate and the World Bank. In June 1996, he established the Pensions Institute, which undertakes high-quality research on all pension-related issues and publishes details of its research activities on the internet (http://www.pensions-institute.org).