While it is generally understood that defined benefit pension systems concentrate benefits on career teachers and impose costs on mobile teachers, there has been very little analysis of the magnitude of these effects. The authors develop a measure of implicit redistribution of pension wealth among teachers at varying ages of separation. Compared…

The tension at the heart of pension politics is the incentive to satisfy today's claimants in the here and now at the expense of long-term concerns. Teacher pensions, in particular, pose two challenges. The first is that political incentives invite irresponsible fiscal stewardship, as public officials make outsized short-term commitments to…

Most public elementary and high school teachers are covered by health insurance provided by their employer while they are employed. In most cases, these health plans are managed at the state level. At retirement, teachers with sufficient years of service are allowed to remain in the health plan. Retiree health plans for teachers vary widely across…

America faces many challenges in working together to restore the promise of economic growth and security for the country, U.S. families and the American worker. The challenges are both real and serious. Despite hopeful signs of economic recovery, America remains mired in the deepest jobs crisis since the 1930s. One out of every 12 Americans who…

This policy brief summarizes findings presented at a February 2009 research conference on teacher retirement systems hosted by the National Center on Performance Incentives (NCPI) at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College. The 2009 conference was the second in a series of NCPI events focusing on findings from recent research on issues related to…

There is significant interest in reforming retirement plans for public school employees, particularly in light of current market conditions. This paper presents an overview of the various types of state regulation of public pension plans that affect possibilities for reform. Several states have legal protections that effectively prevent a state…

There is significant interest in reforming retirement plans for public school employees, particularly in light of current market conditions. This article presents an overview of the various types of state regulation of public pension plans that affect possibilities for reform. Nearly all of the various approaches to public pension plan protection…

In "Market-Based Pay Reform for Public School Teachers"--a paper presented at the National Center on Performance Incentives research to policy conference in February--Michael Podgursky, professor of economics at the University of Missouri, examines the effects and unintended consequences of the current compensation system for teachers in…

The retirement behavior of Pennsylvania public school teachers in 1997-98 and 1998-99, a period when state early retirement incentives were temporarily increased, is modeled using a choice framework that emphasizes both pecuniary and nonpecuniary factors of the retirement decision under a defined benefit retirement plan. We find each to have large…

Crises and opportunities in Canadian higher education and challenges for management are addressed in papers and reactions to the papers, based on two symposia. The following English language papers and authors are presented: "Post-Secondary Education--An Enterprise Less Than Optimally Managed?" (Gilles Paquet); "The Crisis Will Get…

Information on pension plans in 16 Ontario universities is presented in terms of the type of plan, eligibility, member contributions, university contributions, and benefits. There are eight defined benefit plans: seven money purchase plans with minimum guarantees, and one money purchase plan with no guarantees. Almost all of the plans are eligible…

Although the rules for public-employee pension funds vary, they operate under the same guidelines. Throughout their careers, teachers and other state and local employees contribute portions of their salaries into retirement funds managed by states and municipalities. In almost all cases, the employers also pitch in a percentage of the employees'…

The electoral victory of Lu?s In?cio "Lula" da Silva in the presidential elections of 2002 epitomized two decades of social and political transformations in Brazil. Nevertheless, instead of launching an alternative mode of doing politics, the program of the Workers' Party affirmed a state logic with a view to gradually updating the…

A committee report on the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) is presented, along with a five-page summary of the report. The full report addresses the specifics of various pensions issues, many of a technical nature, and focuses on the flexibility of the plans for TIAA-CREF policyholders. Two…

Due to state revenue shortfalls and mandated Medicaid and welfare expenditures, substantial cuts were made in state aid to higher education institutions in Maryland in 1992. To meet the fiscal crisis, Prince George's Community College (PGCC) implemented several cost containment measures that had been considered, but not acted upon, in the past.…