TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bulow,Jeremy I.
AU  - Scholes,Myron S.
AU  - Menell,Peter
TI  - Economic Implications of ERISA
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 927
PY  - 1982
Y2  - July 1982
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0927
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0927.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jeremy I. Bulow
Stanford University
Graduate School of Business
Stanford, CA  94305 - 5015
Tel: 650/723-2160
Fax: 650/725-0468
E-Mail: jbulow@stanford.edu

Myron S. Scholes
Platinum Grove Asset Management
Reckson Executive Park
Building 4
1100 King Street
Rye Brook, NY 10573
Tel: 650/234-0521
Fax: 650/234-0525
E-Mail: mscholes@pgamlp.com
M1  - published as Bulow, Jeremy I., Myron S. Scholes and Peter Menell. "Economic Implicationsof ERISA." Financial Aspects of the U.S. Pension System, edited by Zvi Bodie and John B. Shoven. Chicago: University of     Chicago Press, (1983), pp . 37-56.
AB  - If the intent of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, ERISA, was to assure that beneficiaries of insolvent pension plans receive adequate pension benefits, sharp increases in nominal rates of interest have blunted that purpose. Without an increase in these rates, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, PBGC, the insurance agency established to guarantee benefits, faced large liabilities on the terminations of pension plans. We examine the economics of pension funds and the funding of pension funds before and after the enactment of ERISA. The Act changed the economics of pension funds. The PBGC, the employer, and the employees have interests in the assets of the pension plan. The PBGC can tax corporations to pay off liabilities and to fund guaranteed benefits; employers can terminate pension plans or overfund them; employees can ask for more benefits or claim the assets in the fund. Although the PBGC insures benefits, the insurance agent forbears, not acting quickly to protect its own interests. To prevent potential huge increases in its liabilities, the PBGC could require that employers hedge the guaranteed benefits, and fund their increases in promised benefits. Given its policies, these requirements could protect the PBGC.
ER  -