The dissertation deals with four issues affecting Employer Sponsored Pension Plans: (a) the rationale for their existence and growth, (b) the impact of taxation on funding decisions, (c) the development of an investment model for such funds, and (d) the evaluation of the historical investment performance of 83 Canadian pension funds. The proposed investment model integrates the fund's assets with the firm's assets. It is operationalized for four Canadian firms, using a universe of 192 common stocks and eleven bond portfolios. The results indicate that the optimal pension fund is firm-specific, in terms of both asset mix and security selection. The evaluation of investment performance emphasizes the equity portfolios of the 83 Canadian funds. The results show non-superior performance by these funds; the conclusions are robust across holding periods, benchmarks, performance measures and time periods. The study has major implications for the funding and investment policies of the pension funds and their investment performance.

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