2008 Annual Report
During 2008, John Turner wrote the book Pension Policy: The Search for Better Solutions, which will be published by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. This book examines ways to improve both defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans.
Hazel Witte and Turner wrote a report for the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management at the University of Toronto on fee disclosure to defined contribution plan participants. This report examines fee disclosure practices in a number of countries and recommends minimum requirements for fee disclosure.
Turner also published an article on fee disclosure in the Newsletter of the Employee Benefits Committee of the Labor and Employment Section of the American Bar Association. Witte, Turner and Charlotte Knapp worked on a report for the Society of Actuaries, due in 2009, on financial planning software.
Gerard Hughes (Trinity College, Dublin) and John Turner prepared a report for the Ontario Pension Board on the decline in defined benefit plans in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The report examines reasons why the decline has been considerably less in Canada and Ireland than in the United Kingdom and the United States. They presented this report at the annual meetings of the European Network for Research on Supplementary Pensions in Amsterdam. They also presented the report at the annual meetings of the Society of Actuaries in Orlando. That report served as the basis for a presentation at a pension conference in Jamaica.
Mark Iwry (Retirement Security Project and Brookings Institution) and Turner prepared a prepared a paper under the auspices of the Retirement Security Project on new behavioral strategies for expanding annuitization in 401(k) plans.
Olivia Mitchell (University of Pennsylvania) and Turner prepared a paper on effects of human capital risk on pension plans and the use of computer programs to analyze this risk for a World Bank/OECD/ING conference in Mexico City, which will take place in 2009.
Leslie Muller (Pension Policy Center) and Turner prepared a report on gaps in contributions to defined contribution plans, which they presented at a conference at the University of Michigan.
John Turner prepared a report for the National Academy of Social Insurance on a new benefit for Social Security, called longevity insurance, which would be available starting at age 82. Turner also prepared a report for AARP on automatic adjustment mechanisms for Social Security reform.
Yung-Ping Chen (University of Massachusetts, Boston) and Turner gave a presentation on signaling and public policy related to the retirement age to the Retirement 20/20 conference sponsored by the Society of Actuaries.