Comparative analysis of pay-as-you-go and funded pension systems: literature review

There are two main types of pension system, a funded system and a pay-as-you-go system. The difference between these two systems is linked to the way they operate: the first is based on sums collected by the working population in special funds that generate interest, so that the contributor can benefit from this deposit when he or she retires, either immediately or in the form of a life annuity.

However, the pay-as-you-go pension system is based on the principle of solidarity, whereby each working population finances the retirement of pensioners by means of a contribution that varies according to the economic and demographic situation.   

The objective of our work is to determine, through a literature review based on academic and institutional contributions on the subject of pension reforms from 1990 to 2023, the most secure and efficient pension system, by comparing the two systems in terms of efficiency, return and risk. According to the comparison, neither of the two systems meets the conditions for efficiency, but in terms of risk, the funded pension system is the more secure.