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Guaranteeing Defined Contribution Pensions: The Option to Buy Back a Defined Benefit Promise

Author

Listed:
  • Marie‐Eve Lachance
  • Olivia S. Mitchell
  • Kent Smetters

Abstract

After a long commitment to defined benefit (DB) pension plans for U.S. public sector employees, many state legislatures have introduced defined contribution (DC) plans for their public employees. In this process, investment risk that was previously borne by state DB plans has now devolved to employees covered by the new DC plans. In light of this trend, some states have introduced a guarantee mechanism to help protect DC plan participants. One such guarantee takes the form of an option permitting DC plan participants to buy back their DB benefit for a price. This article develops a theoretical framework to analyze the option design and illustrate how employee characteristics influence the option's cost. We illustrate the potential impact of a buy‐back option in a pension reform enacted recently by the State of Florida for its public employees. If employees were to exercise the buy‐back option optimally, the market value of this option could represent up to 100 percent of the DC contributions over their work life.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie‐Eve Lachance & Olivia S. Mitchell & Kent Smetters, 2003. "Guaranteeing Defined Contribution Pensions: The Option to Buy Back a Defined Benefit Promise," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 70(1), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jrinsu:v:70:y:2003:i:1:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.1111/1539-6975.00044
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    Cited by:

    1. Jacqueline Volkman Wise, 2013. "Pension Portfolio Choice and Peer Envy," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 80(2), pages 461-489, June.
    2. Olivia S. Mitchell & Alexander Muermann, 2003. "The Demand for Guarantees in Social Security Personal Retirement Accounts," Working Papers wp060, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    3. Josiah, J. & Gough, O. & Haslam, J. & Shah, N., 2014. "Corporate reporting implication in migrating from defined benefit to defined contribution pension schemes: A focus on the UK," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 18-37.
    4. Petar Pierre Matek & Masa Galic, 2017. "The Impact of Minimum Return Guarantees on Management of Mandatory Pension Funds in Croatia," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 67(4), pages 342-369, August.
    5. Brown, Jeffrey R. & Weisbenner, Scott J., 2014. "Why do individuals choose defined contribution plans? Evidence from participants in a large public plan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 35-46.
    6. M. Martin Boyer, 2018. "La gestion et le dépistage des risques liés au vieillissement, et le rôle des régimes de retraite dans le marché de l’assurance de soins de longue durée," CIRANO Project Reports 2018rp-03, CIRANO.
    7. David McCarthy & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2004. "Annuities for an ageing world," Chapters, in: Elsa Fornero & Elisa Luciano (ed.), Developing an Annuity Market in Europe, chapter 2, pages 13-48, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Sule Sahin & Adem Yavuz Elveren, 2009. "A Cost Analysis of a Minimum Pension Guarantee for the Individual Pension System in Turkey," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2009_13, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    9. Chia, Ngee-Choon & Tsui, Albert K.C., 2005. "Medical savings accounts in Singapore: how much is adequate?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 855-875, September.
    10. Olivia S. Mitchell, 2018. "Enhancing risk management for an aging world," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Theory, Springer;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 43(2), pages 115-136, September.
    11. Chao-Liang Chen, 2006. "The portable guarantee to exchange back an old defined benefit for a new defined contribution (DC) pension plan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(6), pages 699-706.
    12. Amy Rehder Harris & John Sabelhaus & Michael Simpson, 2005. "Social Security Benefit Uncertainty under Individual Accounts," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(1), pages 1-16, January.
    13. Pierre Devolder & Sébastien De Valeriola, 2017. "Minimum Protection in DC Funding Pension Plans and Margrabe Options," Risks, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-14, January.
    14. Zvika Afik & Elroi Hadad & Rami Yosef, 2023. "A Guaranteed-Return Structured Product as an Investment Risk-Hedging Instrument in Pension Savings Plans," Risks, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, June.
    15. Iqbal Owadally & Steven Haberman & Denise Gómez Hernández, 2013. "A Savings Plan With Targeted Contributions," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 80(4), pages 975-1000, December.
    16. 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.
    17. Dirk Broeders, 2010. "Valuation of Contingent Pension Liabilities and Guarantees Under Sponsor Default Risk," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 77(4), pages 911-934, December.
    18. Muermann, Alexander & Mitchell, Olivia S. & Volkman, Jacqueline M., 2006. "Regret, portfolio choice, and guarantees in defined contribution schemes," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 219-229, October.
    19. Ngee-Choon Chia & Albert K C Tsui, 2005. "Reverse Mortgages as Retirement Financing Instrument : An Option for “Asset-rich and Cash-poor†Singaporeans," Finance Working Papers 22566, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    20. Clark, Robert L. & Hanson, Emma & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2016. "Lessons for public pensions from Utah's move to pension choice," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 285-310, July.
    21. Gopi Shah Goda & Colleen Flaherty Manchester, 2013. "Incorporating Employee Heterogeneity into Default Rules for Retirement Plan Selection," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(1), pages 198-235.
    22. Olivia S Mitchell & John Piggott & Michael Sherris & Shaun Yow, 2006. "Financial Innovation for an Ageing World," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Christopher Kent & Anna Park & Daniel Rees (ed.),Demography and Financial Markets, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    23. Diana H. A. Tsai, 2005. "Knowledge Spillovers and High‐technology Clustering: Evidence from Taiwan's Hsinchu Science‐Based Industrial Park," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(1), pages 116-128, January.
    24. Frehen, Rik G.P. & Hoevenaars, Roy P.M.M. & Palm, Franz C. & Schotman, Peter C., 2008. "Regret aversion and annuity risk in defined contribution pension plans," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 1050-1061, June.
    25. Ngee-Choon Chia & Albert K C Tsui, 2005. "Reverse Mortgages as Retirement Financing Instrument: An Option for “Asset-rich and Cash-poor” Singaporeans," SCAPE Policy Research Working Paper Series 0503, National University of Singapore, Department of Economics, SCAPE.

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    JEL classification:

    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • H - Public Economics

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