Aubry, Jean-Pierre. “Legacy debt in public pensions”. State and Local Pension Plans 84, Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, June 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:109480.
Abstract
The brief's key findings are: (1) The inclusion of "legacy debt" -- unfunded liabilities from long ago -- with current liabilities impedes effective pension policy. (2) A new approach would separate legacy debt from other unfunded liabilities in order to: (i) spread the legacy cost over multiple generations; and (ii) properly identify fixed vs. variable costs. (3) It would also use the municipal bond yield -- rather than the assumed return on assets -- to calculate liabilities and required contributions. (4) This approach, by properly allocating costs, would improve intergenerational fairness, government resource decisions, and public credibility.