The Impact of Pensions On State Borrowing Costs

New Center for Excellence Issue Brief

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Center for State and Local Government Excellence has issued a new issue brief, The Impact of Pensions on State Borrowing Costs.  Written by Alicia H. Munnell, Jean-Pierre Aubry, and Laura Quinby of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the brief's key findings are:

• Both public pensions and municipal bonds are in the headlines.
• An important question is how pensions affect municipal bond rates.
  • The analysis of 37,500 bond issues found that pension funding raises rates by a modest 3 to 7 basis points.
  • However, if pension costs rise as a share of state budgets, this impact could increase in the future.
• Pension funding does not have a statistically significant effect on bond ratings.

Read the full brief at http://tinyurl.com/impactofpensions.

Find all the Center's publications on public sector pensions and retiree health care at www.slge.org.

About the Center for State and Local Government Excellence

The Center for State and Local Government Excellence helps state and local governments become knowledgeable and competitive employers so they can attract and retain a talented and committed workforce. The Center identifies best practices and conducts research on competitive employment practices, workforce development, pensions, retiree health security, and financial planning. The Center also brings state and local leaders together with respected researchers and features the latest demographic data on the aging workforce, research studies, and news on health care, recruitment, and succession planning on its website, www.slge.org.

SOURCE Center for State and Local Government Excellence