This study examined the determinants of public pension fund performance through the lens of agency theory. The study sought to answer the following questions: (1) How much of the fluctuation in the performance of pension plans is due to political interference - either directly from decisions made by legislatures or through the governance structure of the pension boards, after controlling for asset allocation, plan size, and other external factors? (2) Do pension board expertise, education and training, and information disclosure requirements improve the performance of pension plans? (3) Do pension trustees strategically determine the actuarial rate of return (discount rate) in order to reduce contributions in times of fiscal stress for the pension sponsor? Using longitudinal data of pension fund performance over the period 2000 to 2009 and instrumental variables methods to address endogeneity issues, the study found partial support for the agency theory hypotheses. The results indicate that political interference through reduced contributions was the main factor explaining pension performance. There was no direct evidence about the negative impact of politically appointed trustees on pension performance. The impact of these findings for current policy and future research are discussed.

This study examined the determinants of public pension fund performance through the lens of agency theory. The study sought to answer the following questions: (1) How much of the fluctuation in the performance of pension plans is due to political interference - either directly from decisions made by legislatures or through the governance structure of the pension boards, after controlling for asset allocation, plan size, and other external factors? (2) Do pension board expertise, education and training, and information disclosure requirements improve the performance of pension plans? (3) Do pension trustees strategically determine the actuarial rate of return (discount rate) in order to reduce contributions in times of fiscal stress for the pension sponsor? Using longitudinal data of pension fund performance over the period 2000 to 2009 and instrumental variables methods to address endogeneity issues, the study found partial support for the agency theory hypotheses. The results indicate that political interference through reduced contributions was the main factor explaining pension performance. There was no direct evidence about the negative impact of politically appointed trustees on pension performance. The impact of these findings for current policy and future research are discussed.

"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration from the Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009." / Advisor(s): Henderson, David R. ; Eitelberg, Mark J. "June 2009." "MBA professional report"--Cover. Description based on title screen as viewed on July 14, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Military Retirement, Retirement Information Sources, Retirement Information Systems, General Military Training, Military Compensation, Defined Benefit Plan, Defined Contribution Plan, Military Pension, Military Retirement Fund, and Military Retirement Communication Modes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-74). Also available in print.

The research set out to explore the nature of challenges in distribution of old age pensions in Lesotho. Poor institutional capacity failed the implementing agency, the Department of Pensions; to set up competent administrative structures to run run the pensions effectively and efficiently. A number of challenges have been identified, some of which were: inadequate supervision of the paying officers, fraud by workers and community agents, missing funds, insufficient resources, inadequate administrative capacity, overworked employees, faulty targeting, soft and discriminatory approach to non-compliance with rules and multiple use of identity documents by recipients. On the other hand, a number of opportunities have been identified to counteract the challenges. The main recommendation of the study was the engagement of mobile phone-based money transfer facilities to transfer the old age pensions from the government to the recipients. The Department of Pensions should make use of baseline database like information from civil registration agency like the Ministry of Home Affairs to confirm the validity of the pension recipients. Other recommendations included moving the division of old age pensions from the Pensions Department to the Ministry of Social Development which is the controlling body for other forms of social grants in Lesotho. The Ministry of Social Development is regarded as well equipped with qualified staff and facilities to deal with vulnerable people like the elderly.

Ph.D. (Finance) / The majority of private pension plans offered by employers are defined contribution plans where the risk is borne by the member. In a member-directed pension plan, the individual members need to make decisions regarding the investment of their contributions. The board of trustees usually provide them with a number of options to choose from. This research answers the question: which factors influence the investment decisions of members of member-directed defined contribution pension plans? The study makes a unique contribution to the field of retirement finance by determining the impact of financial risk tolerance, demographics, behavioural factors, and pension plan design and presentation factors on the investment decisions of members of a member-directed defined contribution pension plan. The results of the study inform a number of role players in the pension value chain to ultimately aid the pension plan member to effect a more optimal investment choice. A survey approach was followed to collect primary data to analyse together with secondary data within a quantitative research paradigm. A census was conducted on individuals who were members of the member-directed defined contribution pension plan of a South African higher education institution on 31 March 2008. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on members’ demographics, financial risk tolerance, behavioural factors, and pension plan design and presentation factors. Secondary data consisted of additional demographic factors, which were available on the employers’ information system and data on member investment decisions obtained from the administrators of the pension plan. Of the 879 survey instruments distributed, 620 were returned at least partially completed and could be used in the study.

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / This mini-dissertation discusses the legal reform of the taxation of pension benefits under the South African law. This study also discusses how South African pension benefits are taxed in instances wherein the member exits the fund either as a result of resignation, death, dismissal, retrenchment, disability and retirement. It further discusses the comparative study between South Africa, Canada, Australia and United Kingdom

Prior studies on the impact of the termination of overfunded defined benefit pension plans on shareholders' wealth have produced conflicting findings. The first study on the stock market reaction to pension plan termination was conducted by Alderson and Chen (1986); this study claimed that shareholders realize significant positive abnormal returns around the termination announcement date. A more recent study, by Moore and Pruitt (1990), disclaimed the findings of Alderson and Chen. Reexamination of these two studies with additional evidence and the use of the appropriate announcement date suggests that termination of pension plans is associated with significant wealth gain to shareholders. This study also analyzes samples from periods prior to and after the imposition in 1986 of a 10 percent excise tax on recaptured excess pension assets. The empirical results suggest that shareholders experience significant positive wealth effects for the pre-tax (1980-85) period and no wealth effects for the post-tax (1986-88) period. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the impact of stock market reaction upon shareholders' wealth under the partial anticipation hypothesis. The pre-tax sample is analyzed by isolating the expected terminators using the multiple discriminant analysis model. This study finds significant positive abnormal returns only for firms that are not anticipated by the investors as potential terminators. The results of this study do not lend support to either the "separation" or the "integration" hypothesis as proposed by Alderson and Chen (1986). Instead, the results are consistent with the information hypothesis that the market reacts to unanticipated events that provide new information. Cross-sectional regression analysis of unexpected terminators suggests that the abnormal performance of stocks of pension terminating firms is explained by the firms' debt ratio and the amount of surplus pension assets. It can be inferred that firms may resort to recapturing excess pension assets as a way of financing investments internally when faced with unfavorable credit markets.

Planos de previdência que dependem de uma postura ativa dos indivíduos para solicitar a adesão acabam tendo uma baixa participação (Benartzi & Thaler, 2007). Por outro lado, resultados mostram que os indivíduos decidem poupar a partir de determinadas \"regras de bolso\", tais como a escolha de um percentual máximo de contribuição que receba uma contrapartida do empregador (se a percentagem máxima que receberá contrapartida do patrocinador de um plano for 8%, então o indivíduo decidirá contribuir com esta percentagem). Assim, estratégias podem ser inseridas nos planos de aposentadoria, de forma que determinados comportamentos sejam \"incentivados\" e outros sejam \"coibidos\", fundamentalmente, em situações manifestas de inconsistência temporal por parte dos indivíduos. Esta pesquisa objetivou identificar, a partir de evidências empíricas, quais arranjos de planos previdenciários do tipo \'contribuição definida\' minimizam o efeito da miopia intertemporal sobre as decisões de poupança para a aposentadoria. Os fundamentos teóricos que nortearam a presente tese foram a Racionalidade Limitada, proposta por Simon (1979), a Teoria dos Prospectos, e as hipóteses do ciclo de vida comportamental (Behavioral Life-Cicle hypothesis), desenvolvidas por Benartzi e Thaler (2007). Utilizou-se um levantamento para identificar as características demográficas dos participantes e, paralelamente, um experimento com base em cenários para identificar as escolhas relacionadas aos planos de previdência complementar do tipo \'contribuição definida\'. O levantamento e o experimento foram formulados com o auxílio da plataforma online Questionpro© e disponibilizados por meio da internet aos participantes. Foram definidos cenários para o grupo de controle (sem manipulação de variáveis) e para dois grupos experimentais (com manipulação de variáveis), para identificar de que forma o desenho dos planos de previdência afeta as decisões de alocação de recursos a eles, e de que forma tais decisões se relacionam com as variáveis demográficas dos segurados. Os testes de hipóteses foram realizados por meio do teste não paramétrico de Wilcoxon para diferença de médias, e por meio da estimação de regressão linear por mínimos quadrados ordinários. Os achados sugerem que os respondentes parecem ter adotado um comportamento mais impaciente, quando o intervalo é deslocado para o futuro, do que quando se compara uma recompensa imediata e uma recompensa tardia em um mesmo intervalo de espera, contrariando a literatura sobre desconto hiperbólico, inconsistência temporal e comportamento impaciente. No que se refere ao efeito dos arranjos institucionais sobre as decisões de poupança para a aposentadoria, observou-se que o desenho deum plano de previdência em que haja inscrição automática compulsória, com a presença de um plano livre de risco, faz com que haja uma maior permanência dos indivíduos neste tipo de plano. Este resultado, aliado às estatísticas descritivas que apontam uma maior aposentadoria nos planos com inscrição automática compulsória e contrapartida do patrocinador (experimentador), em comparação com o plano sem tais características, nos leva a afirmar que tais desenhos permitem uma maior poupança para a aposentadoria por parte dos segurados. Portanto, a inserção de desenhos desta natureza em eventuais políticas públicas pode servir de \"empurrão\" para que as pessoas tomem decisões que vão de encontro à inconsistência temporal. / Pension plans that rely on an active attitude of individuals to apply for membership end up having a low participation (Benartzi & Thaler, 2007). On the other hand, there are findings that individuals decide to save using certain \"rules of thumb\", such as the choice of a maximum contribution percentage receiving a counterpart of the employer (if the maximum percentage that will receive compensation from the sponsor of a plan is 8%, then the individual will decide to contribute to this figure). Thus, strategies can be incorporated into retirement plans in order to contribute to certain behaviors are \"encouraged\" and others are \"restrained\" fundamentally manifest in situations of time inconsistency by individuals. This research aimed to identify, from empirical evidence, which arrangements of pension plans, type defined contribution, minimize the effect of intertemporal myopia on saving decisions for retirement. The theoretical foundations that guided this thesis were Bounded Rationality, proposed by Simon (1979), the Prospect Theory and Behavioral Life-Cicle hypothesis, developed by Benartzi and Thaler (2007). We used a survey to identify the demographic characteristics of the participants and, in parallel, an experiment based on scenarios to identify the choices related to the pension plans, type defined contribution. The survey and the experiment were formulated with the help of the online platform QuestionPro© and made available through the internet to participants. Scenarios were defined for the control group (without manipulation of variables) and two experimental groups (with manipulation of variables) to identify how the design of pension plans affect the resource allocation decisions to plans and how they relate to the demographic variables of the insured. Hypothesis tests were performed using the nonparametric Wilcoxon test for difference of means and through linear regression estimation by OLS. The findings suggest that respondents seem to have adopted a more impatient behavior when the range is shifted to the future than when comparing immediate reward and a delayed reward in a equivalent delay interval, contrary to the literature on hyperbolic discount, time inconsistency and impatient behavior. With regard to the effect of institutional arrangements on savings decisions for retirement it is noted that the pension plan design where there is compulsory automatic enrollment with the presence of a risk-free plan may improve permanence of individuals this type of plan. This result, combined with descriptive statistics that show a higher retirement plans with mandatory automatic enrollment and return the sponsor (experimenter), as compared to the plan without such features, allow us to state that such designs allow greater savings for retirement. Therefore, the inclusion of this type of design in public policy can serve as a \"nudge\" for people to make decisions that go against the time inconsistency.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Finance and Economics. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

The theme of my thesis is the analysis of the factors influencing the market of pension funds in the Czech Republic. The aim of this work is to analyze the factors affecting the pension market in the last ten years. The theoretical part is focused on the overview of a given issue, the definition of legislative terms and basic concepts. There is described the basic characteristics of the pension funds and the legal framework. A separate chapter is devoted to the management of pension funds and state supervision of pension funds. There is also an overview of the development of the pension fund in the Czech Republic and other terms associated with it. In the practical part there is monitored an impact of individual factors (the gross domestic product, unemployment, inflation and wage developments) on indicators of the pension market, with evaluation by using regression and correlation analysis. The aim is to determine whether there is a relationship of macroeconomic variables on the characteristics of the pension market, or how to tight the binding between them. In the second part of the practical work was monitored the performance of each pension fund.