2010 Annual Report

The year 2010 was a productive year for the Pension Policy Center.

John A. Turner appeared as an expert witness in an administrative law proceeding in Oakland against the University of California in a suit brought by the Coalition of University Employees (CUE). He gave a presentation to the Executive Board of CUE at a meeting in Santa Barbara. He  consulted with the Pension Rights Center in Washington, DC and the Retirement USA initiative. He gave a webinar on retirement planning software for the Society of Actuaries.  He spoke at a pension conference in Toronto, Canada.

Leslie Muller (Hope College) and Turner worked on a report on “The Persistence of Employee 401(k) Contributions Over a Stock Market Cycle: The Limited Power of Inertia,” to be completed in 2011, for the Upjohn Institute. They presented the paper at a conference at the Upjohn Institute in Kalamazoo.

Courtney Monk (Center for Retirement Research), Natalia A. Zhivan (Center for Retirement Research) and Turner prepared a paper on “Adjusting Social Security for Life Expectancy: Effects on Progressivity.” The paper was prepared for the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Turner wrote a paper for AARP Public Policy Institute on “Government Programs for People Having Difficulty Working to the Social Security Early Retirement Age: Lessons for the United States from International Experience.” He wrote two papers for the World Bank: “Fee Disclosure to Pension Participants” and “Automatic Adjustment Mechanisms for Pension System Financing.” He also wrote two papers for the Pension Research Council at the University of Pennsylvania: “Why Don’t People Annuitize: The Role of Advice Provided by Financial Planning Software” and “Rating Retirement Advice: A Critical Assessment of Retirement Planning Software.” The second paper was published by Benefits Quarterly.

Olivia Mitchell (University of Pennsylvania) and Turner published the paper “Labor Market Uncertainty and Pension System Performance” in Performance of Privately Managed Pension Funds, edited by Richard Hinz.  Turner published the book Pension Policy: the Search for Better Solutions (Upjohn Institute). Hazel Witte and Turner published the paper “Retirement Planning Software” in The Actuary. Anna Rappaport (past President, American Academy of Actuaries) and Turner published the paper “How Does Retirement Planning Software Handle Postretirement Realities?” in Reorienting Retirement Risk Management, edited by Robert L. Clark and Olivia S. Mitchell. Turner published the paper “The Search for Better Solutions” in Benefits Quarterly. Turner’s paper “Work Options for Older Americans: Employee Benefits for the Era of Living Longer.” Benefits Quarterly Third Quarter 2008, was reprinted in Social Issues, Challenges, Opportunities, Innovations, edited by Cheryl Leggon, Cognella. Turner published the book review The Age of Aging: How Demographics are Changing the Global Economy and Our World, by George Magnus, in Journal of Pension Economics and Finance.

Dana Muir (University of Michigan) and Turner organized and co-chaired the 2010 conference of the European Network for Research on Supplementary Pensions, which took place in Washington, DC on September 10, 2010. The two of them wrote the paper “Imagining the Ideal Pension System for the United States,” which was presented at the conference. They edited the conference proceedings, which will be published in 2011 by the Upjohn Institute with the title Imagining the Ideal Pension System: International Perspectives.

Turner wrote the book Longevity Policy: Facing up to the Longevity Issues Affecting Social Security, Pensions, and Older Workers, which will be published in 2011 by the Upjohn Institute.

The Pension Policy Center continues to seek projects concerning public policy towards pensions, Social Security and older workers.

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