The future of public pensions

Richard Ennis' article in the current issue of the Financial Analysts Journal may be aimed at the ailment of US public pensions,  but its tenets are equally applicable to European (including Swiss) public pension plans as well. A key issue is that of valuation, where current actuarial valuations are traditionally predominant under the pretext of perennial solvency of the state sponsor. Ennis convincingly demonstrates that the "issues are the value of the obligation, the cost to extinguish it, and on whom the burden of that cost falls. In a word, the concern is accountability." From a Public Choice perspective, his tenets are unlikely to be put into action just now, unfortunately. The increasing gulf between public and private pensions will have to get wider before this can be addressed fundamentally.