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Debate over Public Pensions Research by Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research

A Dec. 13 SIEPR report ... titled 'Pension Math: How California's Retirement Spending is Squeezing the State Budget,' examined the state of three of California's public employee pension systems: [CalPERS]), [CalSTRS] and the University of California Retirement Plan .... The study concluded that debt on public pensions was larger than the state is currently reporting .... In a joint email to The Daily, SIEPR Director John Shoven and Deputy Director Greg Rosston reaffirmed that SIEPR's research is not influenced by its corporate support[.]

Raising the Social Security Retirement Age While Protecting the Poor

"To address rising longevity, [the authors] propose gradually increasing Social Security's full retirement age past the current age of 67.... [R]ising longevity has not been distributed equally.... A stylized policy would effectively increase the full retirement age by two years for a middle-earning employee and four years for the highest earners while leaving benefits unchanged for low earners. This policy change could ultimately address roughly half of Social Security's annual deficits."

Economists Shovan and Orszag Say Medicare a Bigger Crisis than Social Security

Excerpt: Despite the Bush administration's active lobbying efforts to reform Social Security, two economists at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) warned that health-care reform remains a much more serious -- and fundamentally unaddressed -- challenge.

Pension Math: How California's Retirement Spending is Squeezing the State Budget (PDF)

This report examines the current state of California's public employee pension systems. It examines benefit levels, accounting methods and assumptions, projected future costs, measured by contribution rates, and it outlines the likely impact of increased pension spending on California's non-pension expenditures. It briefly examines recent proposals to tackle the pension problem, and it identifies policy options to reduce the magnitude of the problem.

Reforming California's Public Employee Pension Systems (PDF)

8 pages. Excerpt: We conclude that California's public pension liabilities are substantially understated. Given the consequences of pension underfunding, we believe every effort should be made in short order to implement policy changes to reverse the current shortfall and to prevent a similar shortfall in the future. Specifically, improved long-term funding outcomes can be influenced through higher contributions, investment in less risky assets, and lower benefit levels[.]

Public Pension Spending and Crowd-Out of Governmental Services in California, 2003-2030 (PDF)

193 pages. "The case studies demonstrate a marked increase in both employer pension contributions and unfunded pension liabilities over the past 15 years, and they reveal that in almost all cases that costs will continue to increase at least through 2030, even under the assumptions used by the plans' governing bodies -- assumptions that critics regard as optimistic.... Pension costs have crowded out and will likely to continue to crowd out resources needed for public assistance, welfare, recreation and libraries, health, public works, other social services, and in some cases, public safety."

The Funding Status of Independent Public Employee Pension Systems in California (PDF)

16 pages. Excerpt: Assessing the funded status of independent systems suggests strongly that obligations for future payments be discounted at risk-free rates. That requirement is unique to pension systems with defined benefits since case law has interpreted those benefits to be guaranteed and legally equivalent to compensation.