Employer matching of employee 401(k) contributions can provide a powerful incentive to save for retirement and is a key component in pension-plan design in the United States. Using detailed administrative contribution, earnings, and pension-plan data from the Health and Retirement Study, this...

In this paper we derive an analytic valuation formula for a generalized form of liabilities in hybrid pension plans taking account of both equity and interest rate risk. Comparative statistics are carried out to show the relevance of some key parameters in defining the hybrid pension plans,...

This paper compares two different types of annuity providers, i.e. defined benefit pension funds and life insurance companies. One of the key differences is that the residual risk in pension funds is collectively borne by the beneficiaries and the sponsor while in the case of life insurers, it...

We analyze the market-consistent valuation of pension liabilities in a contingent claim framework whereby a knock-out barrier feature is applied to capture early regulatory closure of a pension plan. We investigate two cases which we call immediate closure procedure" and delayed closure...

Adequate funding of occupational pension plans is key to benefit security. Across countries different methods of securing funding exist: solvency requirements, a pension guarantee fund, and sponsor support. The key goal of this paper is to investigate the welfare implications to the beneficiary...

Developed countries apply different security mechanisms in regulation to protect defined pension benefits: solvency requirements, a pension guarantee fund, and sponsor support. We test the performance of these mechanisms in terms of the protection offered to pension benefits in relation to the...