Il cambiamento tecnologico e le sfide per le politiche pensionistiche

Recent technological innovations are going to challenge contemporary welfare states. This is particularly the case of pensions where digitalization and automation – due to their potential effects on the economic system and the labour market – might challenge both the financing of the system and the benefits it is going to provide, thus jeopardizing both sustainability and adequacy. The present paper provides a critical review of possible policy challenges for pensions in the new era of digitalization and automation. In line with a ‘forward-looking’ and policy-oriented approach, we look at the pension systems inherited from the past. They set the institutional landscape where the technological challenge manifests itself. Then we briefly describe two different scenarios about the potential impact of technological innovations on pensions. We thus look at how different pension systems react to largely similar challenges and how policymakers may approach future reforms.