This study analyzes changes in the value of defined benefit (DB) pension plans over time. It uses summary plan descriptions provided by the employers of respondents to the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) in 1983 and in 1989, applying them to similar earnings histories. Pension changes between...

We argue that the appropriate discount rate for pension liabilities depends on the objective. In particular, if the objective is to measure pension under- or over- funding, a default-free discount rate should always be used, even if the liabilities are themselves not default-free. If, instead,...

A major factor weighing down the long-term finances of state and local governments is the obligation to fund retiree benefits. While state and local government pension obligations have been analyzed in great detail, much less attention has been paid to the costs of the other major retiree...

Using a Monte Carlo framework, we analyze the risks and rewards of moving from an unfunded defined benefit pension system to a funded plan for German civil servants, allowing for alternative strategic contribution and investment patterns. In the process we integrate a Conditional Value at Risk...

Some research has suggested that companies with defined benefit (DB) pensions are sometimes significantly misvalued by the market. This is because the measures of pension cost and pension net liabilities embedded in financial statements, taken at face value, can provide very misleading picture...

This paper presents a dynamic political-economic model of total government obligations. Its focus is on the interplay between debt and entitlements. In our model, both are tools by which temporarily powerful groups can extract resources from groups that will be powerful in the future: debt...

We conducted a large field experiment in Peru on informal workers and studied whether offering them a matching contribution raise participation and contributions in their Individual Retirement Accounts. We had three groups: a control group receiving no match, and two treatments groups receiving...

Theoretical rationales for employer-provided pensions often focus on their ability to increase employee effort and selectively retain quality workers. We test these hypotheses using rich administrative data on public school teachers around the pension-eligibility threshold. When teachers cross...

In recent years, policy makers have adopted many measures to incentivize the establishment of employer-sponsored retirement plans (ESRPs). One such measure - implemented in the early 2000s and made more generous in recent years - allows smaller firms that establish an ESRP to claim a tax credit...

This paper develops a new approach to measuring non-wage amenities and com-pensating differentials in the labor market. Using a survey of 20,000 job movers in Denmark, we elicit workers' reservation wage to return to their previous jobs. Our sample contains a large, connected network of firms,...