Scientia Professor John Piggott AO, CEPAR Director, UNSW Sydney
One of CEPAR’s lasting legacies is the creation of the International Pension Research Association (IPRA). Established several years ago by CEPAR together with the Pension Research Council of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in the USA, the Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging, and Retirement (Netspar) in the Netherlands, WTW, the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors and the OECD, IPRA aims to improve the quality and impact of research on pensions and related ageing issues to optimise social and economic outcomes for an ageing world. It is led by CEPAR Chief Investigator Hazel Bateman and facilitates a global network of pension experts.
Its flagship event is an annual conference hosted at the OECD in Paris, which takes place each June. This year over 140 pension regulators, researchers and policymakers, representing more than 50 countries, participated in person at the 9th International Pension Research Association (IPRA) Conference. Over 40 delegates joined online.
This year’s IPRA conference program included presentations on spending and decumulation in retirement; financial and retirement planning decisions; and technology and AI in pensions, which were presented by internationally renowned experts and researchers.
The keynote, on The Role of Financial Literacy, Education, and Advice in Financial and Retirement Planning Decisions, was delivered by Pierre-Carl Michaud, Professor at the Department of Applied Economics at HEC Montréal, Jacques-Parizeau Research Chair in Economic Policy and Scientific Director of the Retirement and Savings Institute.
Professor Michaud called in his keynote presentation for an urgent need to better understand how financial literacy impacts decisions, as the financial landscape becomes increasingly crowded with complex decisions that households must make.
Presentation slides are available online here.