Designing Pension Systems for Emerging Markets with Seda Peksevim, PhD

Laurence B. Siegel hosts a conversation with Seda Peksevim, PhD, Founder & Managing Director of Pensión Research & Consulting and Lecturer at Sabancı University, on how pension systems must be designed differently in emerging market economies.

Dr. Peksevim explains why retirement outcomes are shaped by three interconnected challenges: behavioral biases that limit saving, unstable and risky labor income, and heightened financial market volatility. She discusses the critical role of automatic enrollment, default options, and lifecycle fund design—and why importing pension models from developed markets without adjustment can produce poor results.

The discussion also explores multipillar pension systems, behavioral and technological tools to improve participation, micro‑pension innovations, and the complexities of both accumulation and decumulation under uncertainty. The central takeaway: effective pension systems must be context‑specific, behaviorally informed, and aligned with local economic realities.

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