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February 1, 2006
State and Local Government Pension Forum
Welcome to the State and Local Government Pension Forum Blog site. Through this page we will provide you with updates about the conference, links to useful articles and studies and solicit questions and opinions on what pension issues are of greatest interest to you. Check back periodically as we add information to this page and try and answer your questions and inquiries.
Conference Announcement
February 28, 2006
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
3rd Floor Conference Center
Co-sponsored by the Civic Federation and National Tax Association
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Civic Federation and the National Tax Association will sponsor a half-day forum examining growing concerns about the health of state and local government public pension system. In 2003, it was estimated that the largest state and local public pensions were under-funded by over $270 billion and this number was growing rapidly. The 14 million public servants and 6 million current retirees are owed an estimated $2.4 trillion by more than 2,000 different states, cities and municipal agencies. Many states and localities are finding themselves having to divert greater shares of current revenues to meet pension obligations reducing funding for other public programs. This forum will discuss trends in pension funding and administration and policies for managing growing pension obligations.
Please click to see the agenda or registration form.
Websites and data sources
The Pension Research Council (Wharton School, University of Pennslyvania)
http://prc.wharton.upenn.edu/prc/prc.html
Wilshire Research, 2005 Wilshire Report on State Retirement Systems: Funding levels and Asset Allocations
http://www.wilshire.com/Company/2005_State_Retirement_Funding_Report.pdf
Wisconsin Legislative Council, 2004 Comparative Study of Major Public Employee Retirement Systems
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/
Public Pension Coordinating Council, source for comprehensive survey data (PENDAT)
http://ppcc.grsnet.com/
The Civic Federation, Status of Local Pension Funding: Fiscal Year 2003
http://www.civicfed.org/articles/civicfed_185.pdf
The Civic Federation, Governor’s Pension Commission Recommendations
http://www.civicfed.org/articles/civicfed_184.pdf
The Civic Federation, Recommendations on State Pension Reform in FY2006
http://www.civicfed.org/articles/civicfed_188.pdf
Selected academic articles
Tongxuan (Stella) Yang and Olivia S. Mitchell, “Public Pension Governance, Funding and Performance: A Longitudinal Appraisal”. Pension Research Council Working Paper
PRC WP 2005-2
Julia L. Coronado, Eric M. Engen and Brian Knight, “Public Funds and Private Capital Markets: The Investment Practices and Performance of State and Local Pension Funds”. National Tax Journal, Vol LVI, No.3, September 2003. pp. 579-594.
William R. Voorhees, “Counting Retirement Expenditures Before they Hatch: GASB and the Proposed Reporting Requirements for New Postemployment Benefits”. Public Budgeting and Finance, Vol. 25 No. 4, Winter 2005, pp. 59-71.
Stephen P. D’Arcy, James H. Dulebohn and Pyungsuk Oh, “Optimal Funding of State Employee Pension Systems.” The Journal of Risk and Insurance, 1999, Vol. 66, No. 3, pp.345-380.
Gene E. Mumy, “The Economics of Local Government Pensions and Pension Funding”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 86, Issue 3 (1978) pp. 517-527.
Other articles
Government Finance Review, December 2005
“Strategies for Funding OPEB Liabilities”
“The DB-DC Dilemma”
“A Closer Look at Deferred Retirement Option Plans”
News articles
Chicago Tribune, January 22, 2006. “Retiree health-care accounting rule may become bitter pill”, Barbara Rose
Fortune, January 13, 2006. “Tick, tick…boom! Terror alert: America’s pension time bomb is ready to explode”, Geoffrey Colvin
USA Today, January 17, 2006, “Public workers’ pensions swelling”, Dennis Cauchon.
Business Week, June 13, 2005 “Sinkhole”
Posted by at February 1, 2006 8:08 PM
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