Researcher Institue des Politiques Publiques (Parijs)
Born in Paris on 26 January 1957, Didier Blanchet began his career as a researcher at the Institut national d'études démographiques, from 1978 to 1993. He was a research fellow and then research director. He joined INSEE in 1993 as head of the "Redistribution and Social Policies" division. He spent the rest of his career at INSEE, where his last post was Director of Economic Studies and Syntheses. He was a member of the Conseil d'orientation des retraites from 2001 to 2014, a member of the Commission pour l'avenir des retraites in 2013, and a member of the Comité de suivi des retraites since its creation. He was the French coordinator of the first wave of the European Share survey (Survey on health, ageing and retirement in Europe), and co-rapporteur for the Commission on Measuring the Economic Performance of Social Progress ("Stiglitz" Commission). He is the author of numerous articles on the economics of pensions and social protection. He holds a doctorate and a habilitation to direct research from the Institut d'études politiques de Paris. He is also an alumnus of the École Polytechnique and the École nationale de la statistique et de l'administration économique. Today he is retired from INSEE, but remains a research affiliate at L’Institute Polytechnique de Paris.
As we enter the critical years of an ageing population, it is actually five minutes to midnight to reform the pension system if we want to ensure adequate pensions for current and future generations. The affordability of the pension system as it stands today is under pressure, and it seems as if the population, young and old, is not sufficiently aware of the consequences the status quo might have on their standard of living. There is also strong social resistance to pension reforms that are perceived as unbalanced.
In Belgium, as in other European countries, the debate on financing intergenerational solidarity has been going on for several decades, and a reasonably balanced proposal for pension reform was already drawn up by the Pension Reform Commission, which, however, remained dead letter.
The intention is to gather scientific insights about major societal challenges in LIAS on the basis of international and interdisciplinary consultation.