scholarly journals Employee Ownership, Control of Pension Funds, and Industrial Democracy in the United States

1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Knapp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
Employee Ownership ◽  
Industrial Democracy ◽  
Ownership Control

A Comprehensive Review of the Evolution of Accounting Standards for State and Local Government Pensions and Other Postemployment Benefits in The United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77
Author(s):  
Dale L. Flesher ◽  
Craig Foltin ◽  
Gary John Previts ◽  
Mary S. Stone
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Defined Contribution ◽  
Defined Contribution Plans ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local

ABSTRACT Both the business media and the popular press have emphasized the underfunding problems associated with pension funds that are set aside for state and local government workers, a group that also includes teachers and professors at state-affiliated colleges and universities. The realization that pension funds are typically underfunded stems from the fact that the accounting standards associated with state and local government employee pension funds have led to greater transparency since 2011. This paper examines, explains, and interprets the historical development over the last 70 years of accounting standards for state and local government pension funds in the United States. Changing accounting standards, along with economic and social change, have led to consequences such as employers transforming their pension programs to avoid substantial costs and significant liabilities, for example by changing from defined benefit to defined contribution plans.

Who Benefits from Pension Enhancements?

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cory Koedel ◽  
Shawn Ni ◽  
Michael Podgursky
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pension System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
Retirement Benefits ◽  
Teacher Retirement ◽  
Front End ◽  
Pension Costs ◽  
Public Workers ◽  
Young Teachers

During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine the benefit enhancements to the teacher pension system in Missouri. The enhancements resulted in large windfall gains for teachers who were close to retirement when the legislation was enacted. By contrast, novice teachers, and teachers who had not yet entered the labor force, were made worse off. The reason is that front-end contribution rates have been raised for current teachers to offset past liabilities accrued from the enhancements. Total teacher retirement compensation, net of contribution costs, is lower for young teachers today as a result of the enhancement legislation. Given sharp increases in pension costs in other states, this finding may generalize to young teachers in many other plans.

Industrial Democracy Under Liberal Capitalism: A Comparison of Trends in Australia, France and the USA

1978 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell D. Lansbury
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
The United States ◽  
Industrial Democracy ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Enterprise Level ◽  
Liberal Capitalism ◽  
Degree Of Control

An examination is made of the trends toward new forms of industrial democracy in three liberal capitalist societies: France, the United States and Australia. A three-dimensional framework is introduced which uses the ideology of the labour movement, the degree of control which is sought by employees at the enterprise level and the level at which participation occurs, to compare developments in each country. It is argued that a convergence of approaches is occurring in these countries towards the participatory enterprise, albeit with some variations, within the framework of liberal capitalism.

Financialisation and the Pension System: Lessons from the United States and the Netherlands

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natascha van der Zwan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Pension System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
The State ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
Pension Systems

Financialisation and the Pension System: Lessons from the United States and the Netherlands The articles explores the financialisation of private pensions in the United States and the Netherlands. It proposes two distinct arguments. First, the article shows that both the American and the Dutch pension systems stand out internationally for their high degrees of capitalisation and the absence of substantive investment restrictions for pension funds. The article posits that both pension systems are highly financialised, yet the process of financialisation has proceeded along different historical paths and within different institutional contexts. Secondly, the article maintains that the financialisation of pension systems is accompanied by its own political dynamics. In both political economies, different groups of actors (employers, labour unions, financial professionals) have made claims over the growing concentration of pension assets. Here, particular emphasis is given to the role of the state. It shows how since the mid-1970s, both American and Dutch pension funds have altered their investment strategies, abandoning public debt as the dominant investment category. The article explains this change in terms of the rising popularity of modern portfolio theory and the immense growth of pension capital in need of new investment options. As austerity politics have made governments more dependent on financial markets, pension funds have become more assertive in leveraging their assets and demanding political reform which are in the interest of the financial industries. Financialisation has thus fundamentally altered the balance of power between the state and financial market actors.

Drivers and barriers for employee ownership – why is the United States in a positive circle while Denmark is not?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Mygind
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Employee Ownership ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Employee Stock Ownership ◽  
Shared Capitalism ◽  
Worker Cooperatives ◽  
Societal Dynamics

PurposeDrivers and barriers for employee ownership vary between countries because of differences in Politics, Institutions and the Economy (PIE). By analyzing this variation, the purpose of this study is to answer why employee ownership has developed fast in the United States and not in Denmark.Design/methodology/approachThe drivers and barriers for employee ownership are identified from the scientific literature, and the main societal dynamics are identified through the PIE model covering the dynamics between politics, institutional change and the economy. Politics focuses on different social groups influencing the development of institutions driving or hindering employee ownership in the economy.FindingsUnited States has followed a self-enforcing circle with broad political support of “shared capitalism,” including the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) type of employee ownership. In Denmark, the labor movement rejected worker cooperatives as a main strategy and focused on building up the welfare state. Center-right parties favored employee stocks, but the institutional framework never overcame the barriers for employee ownership.Originality/valueThis is the first study to perform an analysis of politics, institutional change and economic development to explain drivers and barriers for employee ownership and to make a comparison between the development of employee ownership in the United States and Denmark.

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