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. Rules and auditing standards are intended to tame this kind of short-sighted behavior in the private sector. In the public sector, the primary safeguard is the hope that public officials will not be…

Given the right incentives, many college faculty will retire early. With mandatory retirement of tenured faculty soon to be abolished, institutions may need to revamp their pension plans and introduce voluntary retirement-incentive options. These options include phased- and full-retirement programs. (Author/MSE)

Uncapping the mandatory retirement age is unlikely to alter retirement age by much, but it will lead to substantially higher pensions for faculty members who continue to work. Institutions must monitor retirement-age behavior in order to restructure pension and other benefits appropriately to meet income and retirement objectives. (Author/MSE)

Examines how the 1978 Amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act will affect the future labor force. Discusses how retirement age policies hurt older workers, changes that are expected to occur, how pension benefits affect the older work force, and why a linked employment/retirement policy is urged. (Editor/CT)

Indiana University's experiences with trying to cancel an increasingly expensive early retirement system illustrates some of the ways in which faculty retirement benefits are subject to attack and some of the potential and weaknesses of the traditional faculty governance mechanisms in trying to shape a response. (MSE)

Economic underpinnings of retirement incentives and case law leading to the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (1986) are reviewed; implications for early retirement incentives for college faculty are considered. It is concluded that congressional intent is not to foreclose such incentives and that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act…

Nine recommendations are offered for making the Teachers' Insurance Annuity Association (TIAA) and College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF) more attractive and competitive retirement investment vehicles for college faculty. They include broadening of account choice, fund transfer and management options, and counseling services. (MSE)

Faculty perceptions of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association and the College Retirement Equities Fund are noted and the funds' performance in the recent market are criticized for inflexibility and lack of leadership. (MSE)

A variety of ways in which retired college faculty benefit from social services and commercial and professional perquisites, in addition to retirement income, are discussed. It is proposed that these faculty are benefiting at the expense of their younger colleagues and should in turn participate in volunteer public service. (MSE)

The advantages and disadvantages of the Teachers Insurance Annuity Association (TIAA) and College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF) as investment vehicles for college faculty are examined, and guidelines for faculty to use in evaluating their investment options are offered. Some data on TIAA-CREF performance are included. (MSE)

The debate about the "cashability" of faculty pension benefits raises questions about intent, fairness, and who controls what. Boards must weigh whether to allow faculty and staff to withdraw or transfer pension funds such as TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund). (Author/MSE)

This paper, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, examines the retirement decision-making of senior faculty, along with some of the key questions faced by administrators in light of the elimination of mandatory retirement. The first part of the paper reviews some general institutional issues, such as faculty turnover, faculty…

An analysis of the impact of increasing the minimum mandatory retirement age on the retirement patterns of older adults across the entire economy suggests that because of the strong disincentives to work embedded in social security and many employee pensions, most workers will continue to retire in their early sixties. (MSE)

Issues of early retirement of college and university faculty are examined as they relate to Australia's aging faculty population, and the conditions necessary to promote early retirement successfully in this context are considered. (MSE)

The influences that demographic changes may have on the design of private pension plans in the twenty-first century are examined. Major demographic factors to be considered include the aging of the population, declining mortality rate, potential for an even lower mortality rate, improved health for all ages and especially for older workers, and…