IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jpenef/v10y2011i03p417-434_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Minimum funding ratios for defined-benefit pension funds

Author

Listed:
  • SIEGMANN, ARJEN

Abstract

We compute minimum nominal funding ratios for defined-benefit (DB) plans based on the expected utility that can be achieved in a defined-contribution (DC) pension scheme. Using Monte Carlo simulation, expected utility is computed for three different specifications of utility: power utility, mean-shortfall, and mean-downside deviation. Depending on risk aversion and the level of sophistication assumed for the DC scheme, minimum acceptable funding ratios are between 0.87 and 1.20 in nominal terms. For relative risk aversion of 5 and a DC scheme with a fixed-contribution setup, the minimum nominal funding ratio is between 0.87 and 0.98. The attractiveness of the DB plan increases with the expected equity premium and the fraction invested in stocks. We conclude that the expected value of intergenerational solidarity, providing time-diversification to its participants, can be large. Minimum funding ratios in real (inflation-adjusted) terms lie between 0.56 and 0.79. Given a DB pension fund with a funding ratio of 1.30, a participant in a DC plan has to pay a 2.7 to 6.1% point higher contribution on average to achieve equal expected utility.

Suggested Citation

  • Siegmann, Arjen, 2011. "Minimum funding ratios for defined-benefit pension funds," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 417-434, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jpenef:v:10:y:2011:i:03:p:417-434_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1474747210000296/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christine Mayrhuber & Gerhard Rünstler & Thomas Url & Werner Eichhorst & Michael J. Kendzia & Maarten Gerard & Connie Nielsen, 2011. "Pension Systems in the EU. Contingent Liabilities and Assets in the Public and Private Sector," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 43938.
    2. Chen, Damiaan H.J. & Beetsma, Roel M.W.J. & Broeders, Dirk W.G.A. & Pelsser, Antoon A.J., 2017. "Sustainability of participation in collective pension schemes: An option pricing approach," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 182-196.
    3. Damiaan Chen & Roel Beetsma & Dirk Broeders, 2015. "Stability of participation in collective pension schemes: An option pricing approach," DNB Working Papers 484, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    4. Romp, Ward & Beetsma, Roel, 2020. "Sustainability of pension systems with voluntary participation," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 125-140.
    5. Thomas Url, 2015. "Altersvorsorgesysteme in Europa," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 57913.
    6. An Chen & Filip Uzelac, 2015. "Portability, Salary and Asset Price Risk: A Continuous-Time Expected Utility Comparison of DB and DC Pension Plans," Risks, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-26, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jpenef:v:10:y:2011:i:03:p:417-434_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/pef .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.