Profile of NORIYUKI TAKAYAMA (CV 498 words)

NORIYUKI TAKAYAMA is President of the Research Institute for Policies on Pension and Aging (RIPPA), and Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo. He holds a PhD from the University of Tokyo. He served as Professor of economics at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University for more than 30 years, being Director of the Institute of Economic Research between 2005 and 2007, and Director of the Center for Intergenerational Studies between 2007 and 2009. He was honored with the JRI Pension Research Chair Professor at Hitotsubashi University endowed with the Japan Research Institute from 2010 to 2012. He has moved to the RIPPA as Distinguished Scholar since 2011. He was a visiting scholar at LSE, Harvard University, University of Oxford and Asian Development Bank Institute.

He has taken an active part in studies of saving and labor supply and also of the social security system, earning his reputation both nationally and internationally as a specialist in intergenerational economic problems. He is currently engaged in microdata analyses of the aging/declining population. His particular interest is economics of social security/private pensions and of household saving/wealth formation. Since October 2000, he has been leading the research project (Project on Intergenerational Equity (PIE: 2000-2015)) whose main theme is Setting Options for Fair Distribution of Well-being among Different Generations, as Director General and CEO. He is the principal founder of the Japan Pension Research Council which started its activity in February 2002.

He has published numerous books and articles in international publications including Econometrica and American Economic Review. His publication includes 1) The Greying of Japan: An Economic Perspective on Public Pensions, 2) The Morning After in Japan: Its Declining Population, Too Generous Pensions and a Weakened Economy, 3) Taste of Pie: Searching for Better Pension Provisions in Developed Countries, 4) Pensions in Asia: Incentives, Compliance and Their Role in Retirement , 5) Closing the Coverage Gap, 6) Fertility and Public Policy, 7) Priority Challenges in Pension Administration, 8) Securing Lifelong Retirement Income, 9) Reforming Pensions for civil and Military Servants, and 10) Matching Contributions for Pensions. His books in Japanese include A Class for Pensions, Pension Reform with Trust and Sustainability, Dynamics of the Stock Economy, Pensions and Child Allowance, and Savings and Wealth Formation. The last was awarded the 1996 Nikkei Prize for the best book on economic issues.

He was Editor-in-chief of Economic Review for 4 years between April 1998 and March 2002. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Social Security Review from 2002 and a member of the Advisory Committee of Australian Center for Pensions and Superannuation from 2002.

He witnessed at the House of Representatives and/or House of Councilors, Japan, on the pension reform bill in 1994, 2000, 2004, and 2012.

He has served as an expert member on National Advisory Committees on pensions, tax and statistics. He worked as a consultant at World Bank, European Commission, IMF and OECD. He is a distinguished key player on Japanese pensions.