Daniel Bergstresser and Randolph Cohen’s recent study presented at the 2026 Pension Research Council Symposium documents a major shift in household ownership of municipal debt. They report that the growing use of tax-deferred retirement accounts has contributed to municipal debt becoming increasingly concentrated among the wealthiest households. As of 2022, the wealthiest 0.5% of households held 51% of all household-held municipal debt. Their study also analyzes what this concentration could mean for the political economy of municipal bond markets.
Paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7327538
Presentation: 2026 PRC Symposium: Daniel Bergstresser
