ABSTRACT
The World Bank's view that efforts should be made to develop mandatory privately managed pillars has been picked up by many pension reform advocates. This chapter looks at the relevance of that approach in France and the United Kingdom, with particular reference to employment flexibility. It begins with a brief description of current pension policies in the United Kingdom and France, showing that at present neither country has a mandatory private pillar. The chapter explores the current debates about pension reform and examines the arguments used for both funding and private management. It argues that whilst growing employment flexibility seems to provide support for the view that citizens should each have separate funded pension accounts, in fact the solidarity which was seen to be of great importance to the pioneers of state pension schemes may be of even greater importance in a flexible labour market.
