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An analysis of risk-taking behavior for public defined benefit pension plans

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  • Mohan, Nancy
  • Zhang, Ting

Abstract

This paper presents the first comprehensive study on the determinants of public pension fund investment risk and reports several new important findings. Unlike private pension plans, public funds undertake more risk if they are underfunded and have lower investment returns in the previous years, consistent with the risk transfer hypothesis. Furthermore, pension funds in states facing fiscal constraints allocate more assets to equity and have higher betas. There also appears to be a herding effect in that CalPERS equity allocation or beta is mimicked by other pension funds. Finally, our results suggest that government accounting standards strongly affect pension fund risk, as higher return assumptions (used to discount pension liabilities) are associated with higher equity allocation and portfolio beta.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohan, Nancy & Zhang, Ting, 2014. "An analysis of risk-taking behavior for public defined benefit pension plans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 403-419.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:40:y:2014:i:c:p:403-419
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2013.12.011
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    Cited by:

    1. Timothy C. Irwin, 2015. "Defining The Government'S Debt And Deficit," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 711-732, September.
    2. Andreas Hoepner & Lisa Schopohl, 2015. "Red versus Blue: Do Political Dimensions Influence the Investment Preferences of State Pension Funds?," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2015-06, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    3. Boon, L.N. & Brière, M. & Rigot, S., 2018. "Regulation and pension fund risk-taking," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-41.
    4. M. Martin Boyer & Franca Glenzer, 2021. "Pensions, annuities, and long-term care insurance: on the impact of risk screening," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 46(2), pages 133-174, September.
    5. Kenechukwu E. Anadu & James Bohn & Lina Lu & Matthew Pritsker & Andrei Zlate, 2019. "Reach for Yield by U.S. Public Pension Funds," Supervisory Research and Analysis Working Papers RPA 19-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    6. Platanakis, Emmanouil & Sutcliffe, Charles, 2016. "Pension scheme redesign and wealth redistribution between the members and sponsor: The USS rule change in October 2011," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 14-28.
    7. Wang, Yong & Mao, Connie X., 2015. "Shareholder activism of public pension funds: The political facet," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 138-152.
    8. Almaghrabi, Khadija S., 2023. "Non‐operating risk and cash holdings: Evidence from pension risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    9. Trianti, Nikoletta, 2015. "Portfolio Management in Public Pension Reserve Funds/Gestión de carteras en los Fondos de Reserva de las Pensiones Públicas," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 33, pages 985-1008, Septiembr.
    10. Hasa, Sidita & Salva, Carolina, 2024. "Cash holdings in pension funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    11. Martijn Boermans & Rients Galema, 2017. "Pension funds carbon footprint and investment trade-offs," DNB Working Papers 554, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    12. Maximilian Konradt, 2023. "Do pension funds reach for yield? Evidence from a new database," IHEID Working Papers 01-2023, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    13. Ge, Shan & Weisbach, Michael S., 2021. "The role of financial conditions in portfolio choices: The case of insurers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 803-830.
    14. James R. Barth & Sunghoon Joo & Kang Bok Lee, 2018. "Another look at the determinants of the financial condition of state pension plans," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 42(3), pages 421-450, July.
    15. Emawtee Bissoondoyal‐Bheenick & Robert Brooks & Hung Xuan Do, 2023. "Risk Analysis of Pension Fund Investment Choices," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(3), pages 872-898, September.
    16. Jiapeng Liu & Rui Lu & Zhengyang Zhang, 2015. "Rating the State Government Public Pension Plans in the US," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 4(4), pages 1-39, November.
    17. Barth, James R. & Bolden, Nicholas & Joo, Sunghoon & Hilliard, Jitka, 2017. "Do Political Parties Matter for the Funding Status of State Pension Plans?," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 48(3), November.
    18. Christian Dippel, 2019. "Political Parties Do Matter in U.S. Cities ... For Their Unfunded Pensions," NBER Working Papers 25601, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Boubaker, Sabri & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Paltalidis, Nikos, 2017. "Assessing the effects of unconventional monetary policy and low interest rates on pension fund risk incentives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 35-52.
    20. Artem Dyachenko & Patrick Ley & Marc Oliver Rieger & Alexander F. Wagner, 2022. "The asset allocation of defined benefit pension plans: the role of sponsor contributions," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(5), pages 376-389, September.
    21. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:9:y:2019:i:1:p:366-378 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Berchtold, Demian & Dichter, Oliver & Loderer, Claudio & Waelchli, Urs, 2021. "Pension risk and corporate investment distortion," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    23. Boubaker, Sabri & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Paltalidis, Nikos, 2015. "Assessing the effects of unconventional monetary policy on pension funds risk incentives," MPRA Paper 73398, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Aug 2016.
    24. Martin Boyer & Franca Glenzer, 2016. "Pensions, annuities, and long-term care insurance: On the impact of risk screening," Cahiers de recherche 1603, Chaire de recherche Industrielle Alliance sur les enjeux économiques des changements démographiques.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public pension funds; Investment risk; State fiscal constraints; Risk transfer; Government accounting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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