The book is a sophisticated and informative analysis of pension or welfare regimes that recognises the restrictive sectoral definitions of pension type, and therefore aims to determine not whether public regimes work better than private regimes, but rather which combinations of public and private engagement in pensions are most consistent with social inclusion. In present day Europe with its rapidly ageing population, this timely text explores how financially sustainable many of the pension regimes are and, more importantly, the extent to which they are socially inclusive for citizens with interrupted work patterns. It contributes to the fields of pensions, risks and ageing by providing a comprehensive, comparative analysis of six industrialised nations in Europe, namely Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland and the United Kingdom.

The book is methodologically interesting by virtue of its construction and use of ‘risk biographies’ – hypothetical individuals who more closely reflect the complexity of real lives with wage oscillation, employment interruptions and unemployment. Examples of these include the mother and unqualified part-time worker in the retail sector, the unqualified worker in the car industry, the small business entrepreneur and the intermittent worker in the construction industry. The same nine men and women, on the same wages in relation to the national average, are used to simulate pension entitlements in all six countries studied. The main argument for the use of risk biographies is that they are more likely to reflect and identify the weaknesses of the public and private pension regimes with regard to social inclusion. For students and academics who are interested in understanding more about pension regimes and systems, this book will provide in-depth information on the key pension systems based on the ‘Bismarckian’ and ‘Beveridgean’ legacies. ‘Passive privatisation’ is also explained as a dominant trend – a term used to describe an increased need for citizens to find alternative provision in the face of reductions in the pension levels previously guaranteed by the State (p. 224). The main body of the text has six chapters or ‘case studies’ that examine six countries. These are further subdivided into two groups according to pension systems of the privatisation veterans (British, Dutch and Swiss) and privatisation newcomers (German, Italian and Polish). Each chapter concentrates on answering three main questions: the nature of the public-private mix in the pensions regime; what pension levels can hypothetical ‘risk biographies’ on incomes below the average but above the poverty line expect, and what is the contribution of the public and private sector to their pension incomes; and how do policymakers responsible for reform aim to address the main shortcomings of their regimes for ‘risk biographies’ considering that a strengthening of the public sector is not a viable option? (p. 6)

In the final chapter, the authors reveal their prognosis for the six countries. Given that four of the six (Britain, Germany, Italy and Poland) have a voluntarist framework for non-state provision, they conclude that it is unlikely that pension regimes will develop in the newcomers that are as inclusive or homogeneous as those in The Netherlands or Switzerland, with their non-means-tested, inclusive public pillar providing a sound base especially for those citizens most at risk of falling below the poverty line. To achieve a more inclusive system, the authors suggest that the public pillar needs to be complemented by second pillar schemes, which can only really be ensured through state compulsion or social partner enforcement or both, as seen in The Netherlands and Switzerland. The book is well presented and informative and will be of interest to both students and academics who wish to further their understanding of pension systems and the impact of policies in the cited European countries. Although the book does not reveal anything new or challenging to the research community, its methodology will be of interest, particularly on the reading list of undergraduate students or as a teaching text on a specific module. It has an important message for policy makers and legislators by providing an insight into what the current trends of pension provision mean for the adequacy of citizens' pensions – whether public-private regimes can sufficiently protect the majority of citizens from social exclusion.