In retirement a pensioner must often decide how much money to withdraw from a pension fund, how to invest the remaining funds, and whether to purchase an annuity.

The UK's defined benefit pensions industry makes widespread use of pooled investment vehicles which are provided by a large number of fund management groups. In this paper we provide the first comprehensive performance analysis of these funds.

Following the decline in global equity markets, the rise in bond prices and the downward revisions to assumed mortality rates between 2001 and 2003, the UK's defined benefit (DB)pensions industry went from a situation where surpluses and scheme sponsor contribution holidays were commonplace, to a situation where fund deficits were the norm.

This monograph surveys the results of government intervention in the market for retirement income provision throughout the world. The authors begin by looking at high-income democracies in which governments have, to a large degree, taken over the function of providing pensions.