about 7 years, twice as large as the average gains in official projections. even this might be a conservative estimate, as it assumes a constant rate of decline in mortality. if the rate of increase in life expectancy registered in the post - war period were to be confirmed for future decades, it would rise by 2050 by more than 10 years. on cross - country variations in mortality assumptions, see cass business school ( 2005 ). furthermore, in order to foster competition and keep profit margins low, product prices and characteristics should be as transparent and comparable as possible. to guarantee a higher degree of transparency, both about prices and about product characteristics, it would be advisable to follow the path of countries such as the united kingdom, where the fsa hosts a web platform in which the different products are compared, or chile, which has recently adopted a similar system. with reference to the inadequate range of available instruments, governments should first of all remove the obstacles that prevent companies from offering inflation - indexed annuity products. in particular, they could consider providing more inflation - indexed and ultra longterm bonds. the chilean experience, in which these bonds are issued both by the government and by the corporate sector, is indicative. it also points to the fact that financial innovation and the development of annuity markets are two mutually reinforcing processes. finally, longevity risk premia could be reduced if companies had access to longevity ( or mortality ) bonds, allowing better asset - liability management. the issuance of such bonds should then be definitely encouraged, recent failures notwithstanding. 26 the market for reverse mortgages should also be promoted. reverse mortgages and similar products transform into an annuitized stream of payments a component of the wealth of elderly people which is already significant in many countries where private pension wealth is still small. there is a risk that the crisis, and the sharp drop in house prices, will give a hard blow to these products, which grew significantly in the years of the housing boom ( see figure 3 ). better - designed arrangements, in which the risk is shared more equally between the homeowner and the intermediary will also help. the main reason why there is an inadequate supply of instruments for hedging against the risks incurred in annuity provision ( longevity risk, inflation risk, financial market risk ) is of course the lack of natural issuers, at least in the private sector. due to their extended timehorizon, governments are a natural candidate to re - ins

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