2011 Symposium: Reshaping Retirement Security: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis

May 5-6, 2011

About the Conference

The global financial crisis has prompted policymakers, plan sponsors, benefits specialists, academics, and actuaries to rethink retirement security for the 21st century. Our 2011 Pension Research Council conference at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania explored the impact of the crisis and its fallout on retirement systems, as well as ideas for new, more resilient models in the United States and abroad. Discussion covered how the crisis has shaped retirement patterns and future retirement income flows, capital market opportunities, plan sponsor decisions, and regulator reactions to the crisis. This event provoked energetic discussion on what the crisis implies for retirement security, the pension marketplace, and the future of retirement system regulation.

This conference was co-hosted by Raimond Maurer, Mark Warshawsky, and Olivia S. Mitchell at The Wharton School.

Conference Agenda

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Session I: Rethinking Retirement in the New Economic Era

Discussant: David Richardson, TIAA-CREF Institute (video available here, presentation slides available here)

Discussant: Peter Fisher, Consultant (video available here, presentation slides available here)

Keynote Speaker: Chuck Blahous, Hoover Institution

Session II: How Did Defined Benefit Plans Handle the Financial Crisis?

Discussant: David John, Retirement Made Simpler

  • Lans Bovenberg and Theo Nijman, Tilburg University: “Collective Pensions and the Global Financial Crisis: The Case of the Netherlands” (presentation slides available here, paper available here)
  • Andrew G. Biggs, American Enterprise Institute: “How Have Public Sector Pensions Responded to the Financial Crisis?”
    (presentation slides available here, paper available here)

Discussant: William Clark, Federal Reserve Employee Benefit System (presentation slides available here)

Keynote Speaker: Henry T.C. Hu, University of Texas Law School, “The Crisis, Retirement Security, and Government”

Friday, May 6, 2011

Session III: Rethinking the Resilience of Defined Contribution Plans

  • David Wray, The Profit Sharing/401k Council of America: “The Private Employer Defined Contribution System Passes its Stress Test” (presentation slides available here, paper available here)
  • Ning Tang, San Diego State University, Olivia S. Mitchell, The Wharton School, and Stephen P. Utkus, The Vanguard Group: “Trading in 401(k) Plans During the Financial Crisis” (presentation slides available here, paper available here)
  • Jingjing Chai, Raimond Maurer, and Ralph Rogalla, Goethe University: “Lifecycle Impacts of the Financial Crisis on Optimal Consumption-Portfolio Choices and Labor Supply” (presentation slides available here, paper available here)

Discussant: Peter Brady, Investment Company Institute (presentation slides available here)

Session IV: Roundtable

Sandy Mackenzie, AARP
Dana Bilyeum, Nevada PERS
Thomas C. Deas, Jr.
FMC Corporation

Closing remarks by Olivia S. Mitchell, The Wharton School