US state pension plans generally use overstated discount rates based on historical performance, creating the appearance of healthy funding at the cost of future underfunding. Conversely, adopting a US Treasury discount rate, or another alternative suggested by previous literature, would cause...

We propose a generational plan for the occupational pension provision in which people from the same generation are pooled in a generational fund. Each fund can set its own policies independently. This plan provides the benefits of differentiation missing in the prevailing collective plan and the...

In the US, Defined Benefit Plans are insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Taking account of the facts that the PBGC covers only the residual deficits of the pension fund the sponsoring company is unable to cover and that the plans can be prematurely terminated, we consider...

In a rich, calibrated life-cycle model, we show that well-designed mandatory pension plans significantly improve the welfare of individuals procrastinating on savings or not investing in stocks, and even improve rational individuals' welfare through a return tax advantage and fair annuitization....

We show that incorporating defined benefit pension funds in an asset pricing model with incomplete markets improves its ability to jointly match the historical equity premium and riskless rate, and has important implications for risk sharing. We emphasize the importance of the pension fund's...

Japan had over 3.21 million people enrolled in defined contribution (DC) plans as of end-March 2009. Although the plans are steadily gaining in popularity, there are still a number of issues that must be worked out. In this article, we propose some fundamental DC reforms, including making...

Both the United States and Australia have multi-pillar retirement systems that include a public component and a private component. Increasingly, the private component consists of a defined contribution plan. At the outset, this paper provides an overview of the retirement systems of the U.S. and...

Millions of defined benefit pensioners must select a pension insurance method. We present a framework for making this decision within the context of US military veterans' Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). Federal government subsidies generate a positive expected net payout for SBP. While insurance...

The objectives of this article are threefold: (1) shed light on the magnitude of the pension underfunding problem and the possible dire impact on enterprise value; (2) remind appraisers of the need to thoroughly understand and evaluate pension plan economics or engage someone to assist them; and...