The Future of Leisure and Retirement

In The Future of Leisure and Retirement, veteran anthropologist Niccolo Caldararo explores social support for the elderly in cross-cultural and historical contexts. Beginning with a comparison of various cultural traditions developed in complex societies from ancient times to modern, this vital new book argues that how a society values its aged citizens and views their contributions to society determines its willingness to provide for their support. Recently, an increasing number of U.S. companies have raided their pension funds to stay afloat or have closed them and transferred liability. Major changes to U.S. federal laws concerning pensions and the responsibility of corporations to fund them have been made under the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Worldwide, workers' retirement payments are under assault, as are investments by pension funds due to laws governing priority of payment. The need for retirement support of some kind in the post-Covid-19 world will require new forms as well as the recovery of pre-Covid-19 savings and investments. Caldararo concludes that sweeping changes in the law are necessary to increase the stability of our modern retirement system.