Resources

  • Transition Costs and Public Pension Reform

    This paper argues that transition costs from moving from defined benefit pension systems to defined contribution plans are minor and should not stand in the way to pension reform.
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  • Pension Politics: Public Employee Retirement System Reform in Four States

    While politics have frequently hampered the efforts to reform state pensions systems, several states have successfully passed significant reform to their pension systems.
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  • Friends without Benefits

    Half of all Americans who teach in public schools won’t qualify for even a minimal pension benefit, and less than one in five will remain long enough to earn a normal retirement benefit. As a result, while the system works for a few, it creates an enormous problem affecting many—especially given the sheer size of the teaching workforce.
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  • Overprotecting Public Employee Pensions: The Contract Clause and the California Rule

    Alexander Volokh argues that the California Rule protecting government-worker pensions is legally permissible, but should be rejected nonetheless as a matter of policy.
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  • Better Pay, Fairer Pensions: Reforming Teacher Compensation

    If districts adopted retirement systems where benefits accrued smoothly year after year and increased the proportion of teacher compensation that is paid directly as salary, they could offer a more attractive compensation package to most teachers without the need for higher taxes or reduced services.
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