Social Insurance and Pension Systems

Taught in Spring 2003

Class meets from 9am to 4pm.
Tentative dates (all Saturdays) are:
January 11 and 25
February 8 and 22
March 1 and 8
April 5 (backup)

Readings to be distributed and read BEFORE first class meeting.
Contact me by email for arrangements to pick up or receive these readings.

An International Comparison of Pension Plan Governance.
Unpublished paper given at International Industrial Relations Conference,
European Regional Congress, 1997.

Pension Control: Are We Talking About Core Issues?
Comments to TERRA Annual Meeting, 2002.
by Richard Hannah

The Control of Pensions: A Brief History and Possibilities for the Future.
Forthcoming in the Journal of Management History.
by Richard Hannah
Note that I'm giving you a reviewer/editor marked up version so that you can see
the writing quality demands for a good journal.

Quasi-Property Rights and the Control of Pensions Funds.
Unpublished paper.
by Richard Hannah

Other short readings likely to be included before first class on:
World Bank Study, Averting the Old Age Crisis.
U.S. Social Security
Retirement benefits in general--suggest reviewing the Beam/McFadden text.

Always bring a financial calculator to class. 


Texts being considered: students are to order from whatever source they want,
or use library copies if available (consider interlibrary loan).  You might also
consider buying one each and exchanging, but this is not an efficient way to
keep up with this much reading.  Ph.D. students are responsible for the material
in the required books for field exams.

Banking on Death or Investing in Life----------------required.
by Robin Blackburn
Published by Verso: New York
ISBN: 1-85984-795-1

Working Capital: The Power of Labor's Pensions-------required.
by Archon Fung, Tessa Hebb, and Joel Rogers
Published by ILR Press, Cornell University
ISBN: 0-8014-3901-9

Pension Fund Capitalism--------------recommended reading only.
by Gordon L. Clark
Published by Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0-19-924048-5

Fundamentals of Private Pensions-----reference only.
by Dan McGill, et al
Published by University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0-8122-3380-8

Employee Benefits--------------------recommended for pension/benefits basics.
Also used in Econ 4390-5390.
by Burton T. Beam, Jr. and John J. McFadden
Published by Real Estate Education Company
ISBN: 0-7931-3960-0

Coverage

Policy
Theory
Practice

International
Social Security systems
Pension systems
Other than pension benefits

Technical Analysis

Funding
Accounting
Time Values
Portfolio structure
Actuarial basics (simple life expectancies)