We study the impact of regulations on the investment decisions of a defined benefits pension plan. We assess the influence of ex ante (preventive) and ex post (punitive) risk constraints on the gains to dynamic, as opposed to myopic, decision making. We find that preventive measures, such as Value-at-Risk constraints, tend to decrease the gains to dynamic investment. In contrast, punitive constraints, such as mandatory additional contributions from the sponsor when the plan becomes underfunded, lead to very large utility gains from solving the dynamic program. We also show that financial reporting rules have real effects on investment behavior. For example, the current requirement to discount liabilities at a rolling average of yields, as opposed to at current yields, induces grossly suboptimal investment decisions.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
12970.
Length: Date of creation: Mar 2007 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12970
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Find related papers by JEL classification: G0 - Financial Economics - - General G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Pension Funds; Other Private Financial Institutions
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
John H. Cochrane & Monika Piazzesi, 2002.
"Bond Risk Premia,"
NBER Working Papers
9178, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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John H. Cochrane & Monika Piazzesi, 2005.
"Bond Risk Premia,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 138-160, March.
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