Description
In view of Europe's ageing population, the sustainability of old age pensions is an issue that needs to be tackled sooner than later. This project grounds on a legal comparative basis of labour regulation effects on old age pensions analyzing the economic, political and social implications of the institutions compared. The objective is to contribute with a broader vision for decision-making bodies as well as to propose effective measures for old age pensions sustainability. Norway performance in terms of welfare and labour rights is much higher than Spain, so contrasting tools and institutions -similar or even different -should explain reasons for such variance also raising weaknesses and strengths in both systems. In this sense the project is expected to benefit both partners in terms of knowledge transfer. The project promoter, Pompeu Fabra University, and donor partner, University of Oslo, have excellent labour law departments and research centers. Donor partner is an expert in company law, sustainability issues, and interaction between law and social norms.
Summary of project results
In view of Europe’s ageing population, the sustainability of old age pensions is an issue that needs to be tackled sooner or later. Its direct connection with welfare state obliges to adopt a transversal perspective that most of current studies lack. The usual macroeconomic perspective should be complemented with a legal perspective as it encompasses not only the economic sustainability of current social security systems but also the effectiveness of the individual’s right to a pension. The comparative methodology (Norway-Spain) is targeted to contrast two different legal and socioeconomic models that despite differences, share some basic common features. Given that the project belongs to a PhD research, the main activity during the stay at University of Oslo has been the research within the Norwegian sources. Research started with the contextualization of the Norwegian main socio-economic features that help understand the welfare state and the employment relation in the country. Afterwards, it focused on the fields of: labour law, in particular the Norwegian collective bargaining model; pensions systems and related social security law, and constitutional law to a lesser extent. The research has also provided the opportunity to discuss with Norwegian scholars and researchers the particularities of this model and to understand how the collective bargaining operates and its outputs. All the work done shall make part of the PhD thesis dissertation and a latter publication is expected. Potential beneficiaries of the project are researchers and pensioners. As long as the project contributes to broaden the scope of pensions’ sustainability debate from a labour law approach, the main and direct beneficiaries are the scholars in the field. Pensioners and social partners could also benefit from the project results. However, law results are not of immediate implementation or effect.
Summary of bilateral results
Main result of the project shall be its contribution to the PhD thesis of the grantee. The host institution has provided the grantee with the necessary infrastructure for research purposes. Academic information facilitated by the University of Oslo members, specially professor Stein Evju is the most rewarding contribution to the project. Such guidance was focused on directions on the sources, technicalities of Norwegian law and, of course, exchange of ideas.