We find a positive relation between the amount of pension deficits and the cost of bank loans. The effect of pension deficits on the costs of bank loans is driven by financial constraints, information asymmetry problems, and higher pension investment risk. Banks tighten lending terms for firms...

Nowadays many employers offer their employees the possibility of an insurance against too large losses in income when retiring or becoming disabled. This paper models the optimization problem of the employer when setting up such a so-called pension fund. Not surprisingly, it turns out that the...