Financing retirement in Japan.

• Position: Conferences

The Sixteenth Annual TRIO Conference, so-named because it is jointly sponsored by the NBER, the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and the Tokyo Center for Economic Research (TCER), took place on December 8 and 9 in Tokyo. This year's conference focus was "Financing Retirement." Organizers were Takeo Hoshi, NBER and University of California, San Diego; Sadao Nagaoka, Hitotsubashi University and TCER; and Toshiaki Tachibanaki, Kyoto University and TCER. The program was:

Olivia S. Mitchell, NBER and University of Pennsylvania, and John Piggott, University of New South Wales, "Unlocking Housing Equity in Japan" Discussants: Pierre Pestieau, Universite de Liege and CEPR, and Miki Seko, Keio University and TCER

Frank de Jong, University of Amsterdam and CEPR, "Pension Fund Investments and the Valuation of Liabilities under Conditional Indexation" Discussants: Toni Braun, University of Tokyo, and Keisuke Ito, Mizuho-DL Financial Technology Co., Ltd.

Toshiaki Tachibanaki and Tomohiko Takeuchi, Kyoto University and TCER, "The Differences in the Economic Effects Between the DB Plan and the DC Plan" Discussants: Olivia S. Mitchell, and Masaharu Usuki, NLI Research Institute

Robert Dekle, University of Southern California, "Financing Consumption in an Aging Japan: The Role of Foreign Capital Inflows and Immigration" Discussants: Toshihiro Ihori, University of Tokyo and TCER, and Makoto Saito, Hitotsubashi University and TCER

Takashi Oshio, Tokyo Gakugei University and TCER, "Social Security and Trust Fund Management" Discussants: Frank De Jong, and Yasushi Iwamoto, Hitotsubashi University and TCER

Pierre Pestieau, "Social Security and the Well-Being of the Elderly" Discussants: Robert Dekle, and Tokuo Iwaisako, Hitotsubashi University

Kohei Komamura, Toyo University and TCER, and Atsuhiro Yamada, Keio University and TCER, "Who Bears the Burden of the Social Insurance?" Discussants: Takero Doi, Keio University and TCER, and John Piggott

Releasing equity in housing via reverse mortgages (RMs) may be a natural mechanism for boosting consumption, reducing public pension liability, and mitigating the demand for long term care facilities in Japan. In order to implement RMs, Mitchell and Piggott find, existing inhibitors would need to be removed. For example, RMs might be exempted from the capital gains tax and transactions taxes, in addition, more attention might be focused on the tax status of annuity income flows and on interest rate deductions...