The tension at the heart of pension politics is the incentive to address today's claimants and focus on the here-and-now at the expense of long-term concerns and more dispersed constituencies. In the private sector, rules and regulations seek to tame corner-cutting and short-sighted behavior. In the public sector, the primary safeguard is the…

This paper examines the pattern of incentives for work versus retirement in five state teacher pension systems. We do this by examining the annual accrual of pension wealth from an additional year of work over a teacher's career. Accrual of wealth is highly nonlinear and heavily loaded at arbitrary years that would normally be considered…

The most widely used pension plans in the United States are defined-benefit plans under which employers pay workers a fixed pension, usually a percentage of their final salaries. Defined-contribution pension plans, under which employers and employees set aside funds that are invested for the employees, are growing in popularity and are…

This article outlines the main features of the present pension insurance scheme in the Federal Republic of Germany, the proposals of the Commission of Experts to Study the Social Security Status of Women and Survivors, the prospects for their implementation, and the essential aspects of the reform. (CT)

Despite the attractiveness of pension portability for educators, there are substantial equity and philosophical barriers to the practice. Portability might help in urban or sparsely populated districts trying to attract teachers or in cases involving spouses' career moves across state lines. Some suggestions for improving portability are provided.…

A comparative analysis of defined benefit pension plans that were more common before 1980s and the defined contribution plans is presented. It is observed that defined benefit pension plans offered age related incentives thereby encouraging people to retire earlier. In contrast, defined contribution plans encourage people to continue with jobs…

Defined Benefit pension plans often generate odd time patterns of benefits. One typical pattern exhibits low accrual in early years, accelerating in mid-late years, followed by dramatic decline, or even negative returns in years that are relatively young for retirement. We consider four states for specific analysis: Arkansas, Missouri, California…

Policy discussions about teacher quality and teacher "shortages" often focus on recruitment and retention of young teachers. However, attention has begun to focus on the incentive effects of teacher retirement benefit systems, particularly given their rising costs and the large unfunded liabilities. In this paper we analyze accrual of…

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has released three exposure drafts addressing the proper accounting and financial reporting for pensions. If approved, the new guidance would affect both pension plans and employers offering pension benefits to their employees. (Author)

Purpose: We examine the methodological and economic policy implications of three operationalizations of retirement migration. Design and Methods: We compared the traditional age-based definition of retirement migration and two retirement-based definitions, based on degree of labor-force participation and retirement income, by using the 2000 U.S.…

A life cycle perspective is used in this study to develop and test a model suggesting that events occuring early in the worker's life, and often beyond his control (e.g., choice of parents), influence the control over labor force withdrawal and the retirement incomes of very early retirees. (CT)

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)

State and federal accountability systems are pressuring public schools to improve the performance of low-achieving students. To respond, schools must be able to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, strengthen curricula, and take other steps to provide struggling students with the help they need. But such efforts are expensive and, as the…

School systems must be able to attract high quality teachers and, if necessary, to attract them across state boundaries. Pension portability, which allows workers to change jobs and retirement systems without losing retirement benefits, is essential to accommodate an increasingly mobile work force. This paper reviews the National Governors'…

Analyses of data from the March 1975 Current Population Survey reveal that Supplemental Security Income participation probabilities are positively related to the level of available benefits. Other factors such as limited information, stigma, and the bureaucratic complexities of the enrollment process appear to be significant barriers to…