Public Pensions and City Solvency

Public Pensions and City Solvency PDF Author: Susan M. Wachter
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812248260
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Underfunded pension liabilities are severely threatening many cities, and policymakers are increasingly turning their attention to the legacy issues surrounding the funding of pensions. Public Pensions and City Solvency addresses this complex fiscal issue and presents strategies to achieve financial sustainability.

Public Pensions and City Solvency

Public Pensions and City Solvency PDF Author: Susan M. Wachter
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812248260
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Underfunded pension liabilities are severely threatening many cities, and policymakers are increasingly turning their attention to the legacy issues surrounding the funding of pensions. Public Pensions and City Solvency addresses this complex fiscal issue and presents strategies to achieve financial sustainability.

Public Pensions, Capital Formation, And Economic Growth

Public Pensions, Capital Formation, And Economic Growth PDF Author: Miltiadis Nektarios
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100023679X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Dr. Nektarios examines the principles and criteria under lying public pension programs and assesses the effect of these programs on general economic growth. He begins by discussing the economic rationale of public pensions, then analyzes the influence of economic and demographic variables on the cost of a pension program and the effects of public pension systems on aggregate levels of income and capital stock. Suggesting that Feldstein's social security wealth(SSW) variable overestimates the amount of wealth generated by public pensions, Dr. Nektarios constructs a new SSW variable and uses it to estimate the impact of the u.s. Old Age and Survivors Insurance(OASI) program on capital formation and economic growth in the U.S. economy. The results of his econometric analysis suggest that operation of the OASI program has reduced capital formation by 10to 14 percent.

The Political Economy of Public Pensions

The Political Economy of Public Pensions PDF Author: Eileen Norcross
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009027026
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Public pensions in the United States face an impending funding crisis in the wake of the financial crisis and the COVID-19 recession. Many cities and states will struggle to meet these growing obligations without major cuts in government services, reneging on pension promises, or raising taxes. This Element examines the development of the pension crisis through the lens of political economy. We analyze the knowledge and incentive problems inherent in the institutional structure, governance, and accounting of public pensions. We conclude by offering several institutional, governance, and reporting reforms to address the pension funding crisis.

Public Employee Pensions and Municipal Insolvency

Public Employee Pensions and Municipal Insolvency PDF Author: Sean Myers
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper studies how municipal governments jointly manage spending, credit market borrowing, and public employee pensions. I model governments as levered investors who must meet non-defaultable pension obligations and may value government spending more than citizens. I quantify the model using California city-level data, including a new record of fiscal emergencies, tax increases required to maintain essential services. After the financial crisis depleted pension funds, cities engaged in excessive risk-taking: the fiscal emergency option encouraged gambling for resurrection that kept cities vulnerable to shocks well into the recovery. Restricting risk-taking does not correct this problem, but a spending cap does.

The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems

The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems PDF Author: Gary Anderson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191610259
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
People covered by public pensions are often the subject of 'pension envy:' that is, their benefits might seem more generous and their contributions lower than those offered by the private sector. Yet this book points out that such judgments are often inaccurate, since civil servants hold jobs with few counterparts in private industry, such as firefighters, police, judges, and teachers. Often these are riskier, dirtier, and demand more loyalty and discretion than would be required of a more mobile labor force in the private sector. The debate challenges traditional ideas about how the public employee labor contract is structured and raises questions about how such employees are attracted to the public sector, retained and motivated on the job, and retired, via an entire compensation package of wages and benefits. Authors explore aspects of these schemes, addressing the cost and valuation debate, along with the political economy of how public pension asset pools are perceived and managed, an increasingly important topic in times of global financial turmoil. The discussion also explores ways that public pensions can be strengthened in the US, Japan, Canada, and Germany. The volume captures a vigorous debate currently underway by academics, financial experts, regulators, and plan sponsors, all seeking to define a new future for public retirement systems. It will be of substantial interest to a wide range of readers, since public sector employees and their representatives will naturally find the comparisons and arguments over valuation of keen interest. Public pension administrators and policymakers seeking an explanation of what makes these plans so costly will gain a new understanding of how the arguments stack up. Private sector employers and plan sponsors can learn much from efforts to reform these retirement systems in states and countries around the world. Finally, investors and the taxpaying public more generally may be at risk to cover these long-term promises, so it behoves them to pay close attention to the financing and investment practices of these plans, along with their valuation. This volume represents an invaluable addition to the Pension Research Council / Oxford University Press series as it includes actuarial, economic, and financial perspectives making it useful for academics, retirement plan administrators, and public employees wishing to understand the challenges facing public pensions.

Reforming Public Pensions

Reforming Public Pensions PDF Author: T. Leigh Anenson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Pension reform has taken center stage in the public policy debate as states struggle to deal with the fallout from the Great Recession. The public pension debt crisis jeopardizes the fiscal solvency of states as well as the nation's long-term financial health. Retirement benefits are also a critical component of income-maintenance for public retirees. In this article, we integrate and extend the pension reform movements in law, education and economics by studying teacher pensions across the United States. Our interdisciplinary approach concentrates on defined benefit plans in states that do not contribute to Social Security. Focusing on this vulnerable and important group of government workers, we aim to improve theory and practice by providing a valuable perspective as states reconsider their pension obligations.We initially estimate the severity of the public pension problem through statistical analyses and comparisons among fifty state plans. We then evaluate the legality and desirability of existing and proposed reforms. Significantly, pension reform raises new constitutional questions that are challenging courts to arrive at an acceptable conceptual framework for consistent interpretation and application. With the foregoing financial, political, and legal considerations in mind, we suggest a comprehensive set of reform measures along with a managerial paradigm for political action. The policymaking methodology directs attention not only to the pension plans themselves, but also to the political reality of their creation and continued operation. We conclude that a comprehensive response to the public pension crisis is necessary to avert disaster and maintain plan solvency both now and in the future.

State and Local Pensions

State and Local Pensions PDF Author: Alicia H. Munnell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815724136
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
In the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession, the health of state and local pension plans has emerged as a front burner policy issue. Elected officials, academic experts, and the media alike have pointed to funding shortfalls with alarm, expressing concern that pension promises are unsustainable or will squeeze out other pressing government priorities. A few local governments have even filed for bankruptcy, with pensions cited as a major cause. Alicia H. Munnell draws on both her practical experience and her research to provide a broad perspective on the challenge of state and local pensions. She shows that the story is big and complicated and cannot be viewed through a narrow prism such as accounting methods or the role of unions. By examining the diversity of the public plan universe, Munnell debunks the notion that all plans are in trouble. In fact, she finds that while a few plans are basket cases, many are functioning reasonably well. Munnell's analysis concludes that the plans in serious trouble need a major overhaul. But even the relatively healthy plans face three challenges ahead: an excessive concentration of plan assets in equities; the risk that steep benefit cuts for new hires will harm workforce quality; and the constraints plans face in adjusting future benefits for current employees. Here, Munnell proposes solutions that preserve the main strengths of state and local pensions while promoting needed reforms.

A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States

A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States PDF Author: Robert Louis Clark
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 9780812237146
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
From the Wharton School, offering a comprehensive assessment of the political and financial dimensions of public-sector pensions from the colonial period until the emergence of modern retirement plans in the twentieth century.

State and Local Pension Fund Management

State and Local Pension Fund Management PDF Author: Jun Peng
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0849305519
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
Intense media coverage of the public pension funding crisis continues to fuel heightened awareness in and debate over public pension benefits. With over $3 trillion in assets currently under management, the ramifications of poor oversight are severe. It is important that practitioners, researchers, and taxpayers be well-advised regarding any concer

Pensions at a Glance 2019 OECD and G20 Indicators

Pensions at a Glance 2019 OECD and G20 Indicators PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264876103
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The 2019 edition of Pensions at a Glance highlights the pension reforms undertaken by OECD countries over the last two years. Moreover, two special chapters focus on non-standard work and pensions in OECD countries, take stock of different approaches to organising pensions for non-standard workers in the OECD, discuss why non-standard work raises pension issues and suggest how pension settings could be improved.