@techreport{NBERw4413,
 title = "Post-Retirement Increases in Pensions in the 1980s: Did Plan Finances Matter?",
 author = "Steven G. Allen and Robert L. Clark and Ann A. McDermed",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "4413",
 year = "1993",
 month = "August",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w4413",
 abstract = {Many firms give post-retirement increases in pension benefits to retirees even though the pension contract does not require such increases. A leading explanation of this behavior is that benefit increases are part of an implicit contract where retirees accept lower initial benefits in return for the option of receiving a share of the plan's financial returns above the risk-free rate. The paper reports mixed evidence on the linkage between the financial performance of pension plans and post-retirement increases. Between 1980 and 1985, benefit increases were larger in plans with high funding ratios and lofty rates of return. However, the practice of giving post-retirement increases became much less widespread in the 1980s, despite dramatically improved financial performances across all pension plans.},
}