The author analyses the politics of parliamentary pensions in four OECD countries, Australia, Austria, Canada, and Germany. Members of Parliament do not only decide upon public pensions, they also enact changes of their own pension scheme. Thus, it is surprising that they have implemented cuts for themselves. The author takes a close look at the politics of parliamentary pensions in Australia, Austria, Canada, and Germany and enlightens the reasons of self-imposed cuts by Members of Parliament. Members of Parliament in western democracies have been under growing pressure since they legislated first retrenchments of national social security systems. They are in a special situation because they have to decide about their own financial situation as well. Thus, it is surprising that they cut their own pension benefits in recent years. The book shows that the self-imposed cuts by Members of Parliament were related to public pension reforms but, in general, were less substantial. Contents: Reforming Parliamentary Pensions - Evidence from Germany: Gradual Decline - Evidence from Austria: MPs Becoming Equal - Evidence from Australia: Aligning MPs and Government Employees - Evidence from Canada: "Notional Cutbacks". Anna Caroline Warfelmann studied Political Science and Social Policy at the University of Bremen before she completed her PhD at the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences. She is specialising in the field of welfare state research. Her focus is on reforms of old-age pension schemes.
