Many think that governments should force citizens to save for retirement and give them tax breaks to help them make the “right” decisions. Many also support income-testing the state pension. This is the model favoured by the World Bank. However, international evidence suggests that governments cannot force or encourage citizens to save more than citizens want to save, so tax breaks for retirement saving don’t work. Compulsion doesn’t work either. Both are distortionary, inequitable, expensive, regressive and complex.

Governments should instead concentrate on doing the things that only governments can do and leave the rest to individuals and their employers. The list of things that only governments can do is relatively short:

● Reduce or eliminate poverty in old age – only governments can tax and redistribute.

● Regulate to enforce codes of behaviour on investment services and tax compliance.

● Produce impeccable, deep data – only governments can compel the disclosure of useful information.

● Run information and education programmes that help citizens to understand what might be important for them.

Governments should then stand aside and let citizens and their employers decide what might suit their circumstances best.

Hong Kong’s “four pillar retirement protection system” falls at the first hurdle. Poverty amongst the old needs immediate attention.

Here is a suggestion – abolish tax breaks for retirement saving. Tax breaks for the compulsory Mandatory Provident Fund seem particularly unnecessary. If they don’t actually work (given that a saver’s tax break is a taxpayer’s tax cost), the amount saved will more than pay for a truly universal pension.

Michael Littlewood, Retirement Policy and Research Centre, University of Auckland