[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rdg/icmadp/icma-dp2015-05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Pension Scheme Redesign and Wealth Redistribution Between the Members and Sponsor: The USS Rule Change in October 2011

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanouil Platanakis

    (ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading)

  • Charles Sutcliffe

    (ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading)

Abstract
The redesign of defined benefit pension schemes usually results in a substantial redistribution of wealth between age cohorts of members, pensioners, and the sponsor. This is the first study to quantify the redistributive effects of a rule change by a real world scheme (the Universities Superannuation Scheme, USS) where the sponsor underwrites the pension promise. In October 2011 USS closed its final salary scheme to new members, opened a career average revalued earnings (CARE) section, and moved to 'cap and share' contribution rates. We find that the pre-October 2011 scheme was not viable in the long run, while the post-October 2011 scheme is probably viable in the long run, but faces medium term problems. In October 2011 future members of USS lost 65% of their pension wealth (or roughly £100,000 per head), equivalent to a reduction of roughly 11% in their total compensation, while those aged over 57 years lost almost nothing. The riskiness of the pension wealth of future members increased by a third, while the riskiness of the present value of the sponsor's future contributions reduced by 10%. Finally, the sponsor's wealth increased by about £32.5 billion, equivalent to a reduction of 26% in their pension costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanouil Platanakis & Charles Sutcliffe, 2015. "Pension Scheme Redesign and Wealth Redistribution Between the Members and Sponsor: The USS Rule Change in October 2011," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2015-05, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdg:icmadp:icma-dp2015-05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/images/2015/11/VBGA-29-Revised-Discussion-paper.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roy P. M. M. Hoevenaars & Roderick D. J. Molenaar & Eduard H. M. Ponds, 2010. "Public Investment Funds and Value-Based Generational Accounting," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Arjan B. Berkelaar & Joachim Coche & Ken Nyholm (ed.), Central Bank Reserves and Sovereign Wealth Management, chapter 13, pages 328-348, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Cotter, John & Blake, David & Dowd, Kevin, 2006. "Financial Risks and the Pension Protection Fund: Can it Survive Them?," MPRA Paper 3498, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Richard Disney & Carl Emmerson & Gemma Tetlow, 2009. "What is a Public Sector Pension Worth?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(541), pages 517-535, November.
    4. Hoevenaars, Roy P.M.M. & Ponds, Eduard H.M., 2008. "Valuation of intergenerational transfers in funded collective pension schemes," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 578-593, April.
    5. Bruce A. Carnes & S. Jay Olshansky, 2007. "A Realist View of Aging, Mortality, and Future Longevity," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(2), pages 367-381, June.
    6. Benjamin M. Friedman, 1983. "Pension Funding, Pension Asset Allocation, and Corporate Finance: Evidence from Individual Company Data," NBER Chapters, in: Financial Aspects of the United States Pension System, pages 107-152, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Haynes, Jonathan B. & Sessions, John G., 2013. "Work now, pay later? An empirical analysis of the pension–pay trade off," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 835-843.
    8. De Jong, Frank, 2008. "Valuation of pension liabilities in incomplete markets," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 277-294, November.
    9. Nick Draper & Casper Ewijk & Marcel Lever & Roel Mehlkopf, 2014. "Stochastic Generational Accounting Applied to Reforms of Dutch Occupational Pensions," De Economist, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 287-307, September.
    10. Chapman, R.J. & Gordon, T.J. & Speed, C.A., 2001. "Pensions, Funding and Risk," British Actuarial Journal, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(4), pages 605-662, October.
    11. Diebold, Francis X. & Li, Canlin, 2006. "Forecasting the term structure of government bond yields," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 130(2), pages 337-364, February.
    12. Atanasova, Christina & Gatev, Evan, 2013. "Pension plan risk-taking: does it matter if the sponsor is publicly-traded?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 218-249, April.
    13. Andrew Ang & Geert Bekaert & Min Wei, 2008. "The Term Structure of Real Rates and Expected Inflation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 797-849, April.
    14. Zvi Bodie & Jay O. Light & Randall Morck, 1987. "Funding and Asset Allocation in Corporate Pension Plans: An Empirical Investigation," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in Pension Economics, pages 15-48, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Ferstl, Robert & Weissensteiner, Alex, 2011. "Asset-liability management under time-varying investment opportunities," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 182-192, January.
    16. Gülpinar, Nalan & Pachamanova, Dessislava, 2013. "A robust optimization approach to asset-liability management under time-varying investment opportunities," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2031-2041.
    17. Campbell, John Y. & Viceira, Luis M., 2002. "Strategic Asset Allocation: Portfolio Choice for Long-Term Investors," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296942.
    18. David McCarthy & David Miles, 2013. "Optimal Portfolio Allocation for Corporate Pension Funds," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 19(3), pages 599-629, June.
    19. Jan Bonenkamp, 2009. "Measuring Lifetime Redistribution in Dutch Occupational Pensions," De Economist, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 49-77, March.
    20. Anantharaman, Divya & Lee, Yong Gyu, 2014. "Managerial risk taking incentives and corporate pension policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 328-351.
    21. Dirk Broeders & An Chen & David Rijsbergen, 2013. "Valuation of liabilities in hybrid pension plans," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(15), pages 1215-1229, August.
    22. John Board & Charles Sutcliffe, 2007. "Joined-Up Pensions Policy in the UK: An Asset-Liability Model for Simultaneously Determining the Asset Allocation and Contribution Rate," Economic Analysis, Institute of Economic Sciences, vol. 40(3-4), pages 87-118.
    23. John H. Cochrane & Monika Piazzesi, 2005. "Bond Risk Premia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 138-160, March.
    24. Steven G. Allen & Robert L. Clark, 1987. "Pensions and Firm Performance," NBER Working Papers 2266, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Helena Aro, 2014. "Systematic and Nonsystematic Mortality Risk in Pension Portfolios," North American Actuarial Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 59-67.
    26. Bodie, Zvi & Shoven, John B. & Wise, David A. (ed.), 1987. "Issues in Pension Economics," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226062846, August.
    27. Gerakos, Joseph, 2010. "Chief executive officers and the pay–pension tradeoff," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 303-319, April.
    28. Lekniute, Z. & Beetsma, R.M.W.J. & Ponds, E.H.M., 2014. "A Value-Based Approach to the Redesign of US State Pension Plans," Other publications TiSEM 3156027d-33c6-4045-963a-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    29. Joshua D. Rauh, 2009. "Risk Shifting versus Risk Management: Investment Policy in Corporate Pension Plans," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(7), pages 2487-2533, July.
    30. An, Heng & Huang, Zhaodan & Zhang, Ting, 2013. "What determines corporate pension fund risk-taking strategy?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 597-613.
    31. Chen, Zhiqiang & Pelsser, Antoon & Ponds, Eduard, 2014. "Evaluating the UK and Dutch defined-benefit pension policies using the holistic balance sheet framework," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 89-102.
    32. Ponds, Eduard H. M., 2003. "Pension funds and value-based generational accounting," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 295-325, November.
    33. 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.
    34. Hoevenaars, J. & Ponds, E.H.M., 2008. "Valuation of intergenerational transfers in collective funded pension schemes," Other publications TiSEM 2c1afa01-df29-490e-bc52-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giorgos Gouzoulis & Panagiotis (Takis) Iliopoulos & Giorgos Galanis, 2023. "Financialisation, Underemployment, & the Disconnected Greek Capitalism," Working Papers 112, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    2. Emmanouil Platanakis & Charles Sutcliffe, 2017. "Pension Schemes, Taxation and Stakeholder Wealth: The USS Rule Changes," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2017-08, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    3. Giorgos Gouzoulis & Panagiotis (Takis) Iliopoulos & Giorgos Galanis, 2023. "Financialization and the rise of atypical work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 24-45, March.
    4. Jan Bonenkamp & Lex Meijdam & Eduard Ponds & Ed Westerhout, 2017. "Ageing-driven pension reforms," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 953-976, July.
    5. María del Carmen Valls Martínez & José Manuel Santos-Jaén & Fahim-ul Amin & Pedro Antonio Martín-Cervantes, 2021. "Pensions, Ageing and Social Security Research: Literature Review and Global Trends," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(24), pages 1-25, December.
    6. Jackie Grant & Mark Hindmarsh & Sergey E. Koposov, 2022. "The distribution of loss to future USS pensions due to the UUK cuts of April 2022," Papers 2206.06201, arXiv.org.
    7. Katarzyna Romaniuk, 2020. "Does surplus/deficit sharing increase risk-taking in a corporate defined benefit pension plan?," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 43(1), pages 229-249, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Emmanouil Platanakis & Charles Sutcliffe, 2017. "Pension Schemes, Taxation and Stakeholder Wealth: The USS Rule Changes," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2017-08, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    3. Romaniuk, Katarzyna, 2019. "Premiums of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation and risk-taking by pension plans," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 301-307.
    4. Hoevenaars, Roy P.M.M. & Ponds, Eduard H.M., 2008. "Valuation of intergenerational transfers in funded collective pension schemes," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 578-593, April.
    5. Almaghrabi, Khadija S., 2023. "Non‐operating risk and cash holdings: Evidence from pension risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    6. Hoevenaars, J. & Ponds, E.H.M., 2008. "Valuation of intergenerational transfers in collective funded pension schemes," Other publications TiSEM 2c1afa01-df29-490e-bc52-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Katarzyna Romaniuk, 2020. "Does surplus/deficit sharing increase risk-taking in a corporate defined benefit pension plan?," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 43(1), pages 229-249, June.
    8. Heusel, Nicola & Mager, Ferdinand, 2023. "Pension funding and the cross section of stock returns - The case of Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    9. Jansen, Kristy, 2021. "Essays on institutional investors, portfolio choice, and asset prices," Other publications TiSEM fd998408-d282-4e0f-b542-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. Romaniuk, Katarzyna, 2021. "Pension insurance schemes and moral hazard: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation should restrict the insured pension plans’ portfolio policy," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 37-43.
    11. Laurens Defau & Lieven De Moor, 2018. "The impact of plan and sponsor characteristics on pension funds’ asset allocation and currency diversification," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 27-37, January.
    12. Bégin, Jean-François, 2020. "Levelling the playing field: A VIX-linked structure for funded pension schemes," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 58-78.
    13. Nick Draper & Casper Ewijk & Marcel Lever & Roel Mehlkopf, 2014. "Stochastic Generational Accounting Applied to Reforms of Dutch Occupational Pensions," De Economist, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 287-307, September.
    14. Michaelides, Alexander & Papakyriakou, Panayiotis & Milidonis, Andreas, 2019. "Corporate Pension Plan Funding Levels and Pension Assumptions," CEPR Discussion Papers 13591, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Lekniute, Z. & Beetsma, R.M.W.J. & Ponds, E.H.M., 2014. "A Value-Based Approach to the Redesign of US State Pension Plans," Other publications TiSEM 3156027d-33c6-4045-963a-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    16. Berchtold, Demian & Dichter, Oliver & Loderer, Claudio & Waelchli, Urs, 2021. "Pension risk and corporate investment distortion," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    17. Ang, Andrew & Piazzesi, Monika & Wei, Min, 2006. "What does the yield curve tell us about GDP growth?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 131(1-2), pages 359-403.
    18. Ciccarelli, Matteo & Osbat, Chiara, 2017. "Low inflation in the euro area: Causes and consequences," Occasional Paper Series 181, European Central Bank.
    19. Hanno Lustig & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Adrien Verdelhan, 2013. "The Wealth-Consumption Ratio," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 3(1), pages 38-94.
    20. Jullavut Kittiakaraskun & Yiuman Tse & George H.K. Wang, 2011. "The Impact of Trading Activity by Trader Types on Asymmetric Volatility in Nasdaq-100 Index Futures," Working Papers 0021, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Defined benefit; Pension scheme; Redistribution; USS; Scheme design; Risk shifting; Risk management;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rdg:icmadp:icma-dp2015-05. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marie Pearson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bsrdguk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.