Reforming Private Pensions

Abstract

As the recent report of the Senate Labor Subcommittee indicates, some new, comprehensive and humane rethinking of our overall approach to private pensions is clearly needed. Controversy over the reform of pension plans has focused on vesting, funding, fiduciary standards and the prohibition of unethical conduct and conflicts of interest in the handling of pension funds. In the first section of this paper these issues are discussed in terms of the current situation: the dimensions of the pension industry, the current legal framework within which the industry operates and the techniques of the professionals in the field are analyzed. The issues are then discussed in terms of the proposed pension reform bill, which is pending before a Senate-House conference committee. A legislative assessment of the bill concludes the paper.