A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States (Pension Research Council Publications)
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: April 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780812237146
Subjects: Economics, Finance, Business and Industry; Personal finance; Retirement; Reference; Officials and employees; Business/Economics; Business & Economics; Politics / Current Events; Public Policy - Social Security; Pensions; Government - U.S. Government; Political Science / Social Security; United States; Personal Finance - Retirement Planning; Military pensions
First sentence: From the Roman Empire to the modern nation state, rulers and parliaments have found it expedient to provide pensions for the workers who carried out their policies and, thus, helped perpetuate their regimes.
Description: "A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States offers a comprehensive assessment of the political and financial dimensions of public sector pensions from the colonial period until the emergence of modern retirement plans in the twentieth century. The authors emphasize how retirement plans can help achieve human resource objectives, how public sector pension policy has sometimes been influenced by other government objectives, and how early pension plans were funded."

"After discussing the economics of retirement plans, A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States reviews the history of European retirement plans, beginning with their use in the Roman Empire, and then moves on to early American pension systems. The authors explore the development and management of U.S. army and navy pension plans during the nineteenth century, drawing on original records of participants, retirees, and plan finances. They document the struggle to establish a federal civil service retirement plan and trace the growth of state and local retirement plans.

This history is inextricably linked to broader developments in U.S. financial markets, offering rich insights into political debates, including current debates surrounding plan design and plan funding. A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States will be of significant interest to financial market and pension experts, labor and corporate pension sponsors, policymakers, public sector plan participants, and others who want to know how and why pensions emerged."--Jacket.