Targeting is an important aim of social policy. Three case studies in this paper reflect typical short-comings in the targeting design of pension reforms. The first case study examines how well work disability and receipt of disability insurance match in Germany. We show that the 2001 reform has not systematically improved target quality. The second case study examines whether the 2014 introduction of a new pathway of early retirement without actuarial adjustments has reached individuals who are less healthy because they have worked a long time in an arduous job. We find that the target population is actually healthier than the comparison group. Third, a much discussed supplemental pension benefit for households in the risk of poverty will miss its target population in both relevant directions: Regarding the first, 23% of those pensioners who are not eligible are nevertheless poor in the sense of the new law. Regarding the other direction, 21% of the eligible pensioners belong to the wealthier half of German pensioners. Since similar reforms are currently debated in many European countries, the three German case studies may serve as examples of how to better target public pension policies.

有针对性是社会政策的重要目标。本文的三个案例研究反映了养老金改革目标设计中的典型缺陷。第一个案例研究考察了德国的工作残障和残障保险的接收情况如何匹配。我们表明，2001年的改革并未系统地提高目标质量。第二个案例研究检查了2014年引入的不进行精算调整的新的提前退休途径是否已经覆盖了健康状况较差的个人，因为他们长期从事艰巨的工作。我们发现目标人群实际上比对照组更健康。第三，经过广泛讨论的有贫困风险的家庭的补充养老金将在两个相关方向上错过其目标人群：然而，按照新法律的规定，那些没有资格的养老金领取者中有23％仍然很穷。关于另一个方向，有21％的合格养老金领取者属于德国养老金领取者中较富有的一半。由于目前许多欧洲国家都在讨论类似的改革措施，因此德国的三个案例研究可以作为如何更好地针对公共养老金政策的示例。