Call for Project Proposals: NBER Project on State/Local Pensions and Health Care Benefits

From: Robert Clark <robert_clark_at_ncsu.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 08:38:04 -0500

We are in the early stages of developing a grant proposal to support two
NBER conferences examining important aspects of public sector pensions and
retiree health plans. These conferences represent a follow-up to four NBER
conferences that were held between 2010 and 2015 on related topics. We
plan to submit a grant application in summer 2016 requesting funds to
support conferences in 2017 and 2018. We are seeking ideas for conference
papers from researchers who would be willing to participate in one or both
of these meetings. Expressions of interest should include an abstract
describing potential papers and the data that would be used in the paper
along with an indication of whether you would be able to participate in the
2017 or 2018 conference.


Each conference will include 8-10 papers. The NBER will cover travel
expenses for up to two authors per paper, along with a modest honorarium
for participating in this project. Many of the papers presented at past
meetings were considered for, and published in, special issues of refereed
journals including the *Journal of Public Economics,*the *Journal of
Pension Economics and Finance, *and the* Journal of Health Economics.* We
hope to include many of the ideas that we receive in response to this
announcement in the grant proposal, and to support many of these ideas
prospectively. The conferences will be held in Jackson WY in summers of
2017 and 2018.


The projects will highlight empirical papers that examine recent changes in
public retirement plans. General topics include how workers and retirees
have responded to plan modifications and the impacts on the well-being of
retirees. Additional areas of interest concern how these changes have
affected the financial conditions of retirement plans and the sponsoring
government entities. Some specific topics of interest are shown below;
however, all submissions relating to public retirement plans will be
considered for inclusion in the proposal.

· Impact of pension reforms on retirement timing and retiree
well-being

· Pension reform and the ability of state and local governments to
attract and retain quality workers

· Choice of annuity options offered by public plans and options
selected by retirees

· Effects of changes in annuity option offerings on retirement
timing and retiree well-being

· Plan strategies to reach full funding and their implications:
e.g., increasing employee contributions, reducing COLA’s, changes in
benefit formulas for new workers

· Analysis of changes in assumptions on rates of return to pension
funds and discount rates used to calculate liabilities and how these
changes have altered funding strategies of public pension funds

· Portfolio allocations of public funds – use of hedge funds, focus
on management fees

· Plan efforts to encourage retirement saving and the role of
supplemental retirement plan (401k, 457, 403b) on well-being in retirement

· State-managed retirement saving plans for private employees

· Impact of increased pension and retiree health costs on state and
local budgets

· Implications of the ACA for public employers and modifications to
(or proposals to modify) retiree health plans

· Impact of health insurance and retiree health insurance reforms
on retirement timing and retiree well-being

· Impacts of rising life expectancies on worker behavior and plan
financial health

· State policies on return to work and implications for pension
finances and health plans

· The implications of pensions and retiree health insurance for the
retirement income security of public sector employees

· Papers examining specific groups of public employees including
police, fire, and teachers are also welcomed

Abstracts and expressions of interest should be submitted to
Robert_clark_at_ncsu.edu or newhouse_at_hcp.med.harvard.edu no later than March
18, 2016. If the conference proposal is favorably received, we will
contact prospective authors in October or November 2016 with further
details about the prospective project meetings.
Received on Wed Feb 17 2016 - 10:30:46 EST