The author explores the critical economic issues underlying national pension systems, including the impact of pensions on a nation's economy, the fiscal dynamics of different pension approaches, and the challenges involved in providing adequate retirement incomes. He concludes that some aspects of the effort to reform the traditional defined-benefit, pay-as-you-go social security program deserve to be taken seriously, but others are either unsupported by current economic knowledge or overstated. This study was commissioned by the International Social Security Association.