- Overview
This Call for Papers is being issued as part of the Society of Actuaries Pension Section Council's Retirement 20/20 project. It stems from discussions at the 2006 Retirement 20/20 conference where self–adjusting mechanisms were identified as a key component for successful future retirement systems. Potential submitters are encouraged to review the report from the 2006 conference, "Building the Foundations for New Retirement Systems," and the paper by John Turner, "Autopilot: Self–adjusting Mechanisms for Sustainable Retirement Systems." These documents can be found at Retirement2020.soa.org.
One criticism of today's defined benefit system is that benefits, and plan provisions, are frozen and difficult to change. For example, many experts recognize that frozen normal retirement ages, e.g., in Social Security, shift risk to taxpayers as longevity increases, but legislative changes to increase retirement age criteria are considered highly risky for politicians. A "self–adjusting mechanism" rebalances, or shifts, a particular risk or combination or risks between stakeholders in some automatic, pre–determined fashion. Such a mechanism reacts to changing demographic, financial or other events without the need for a policy review, plan change, or new legislation. Existing examples include mechanisms that adjust contributions and/or benefit levels in certain social insurance programs and multi–employer pension plans, often in response to changing demographics (e.g., increased longevity) and as a result of financial conditions (e.g., market returns). Self–adjusting mechanisms ensure that retirement systems are responsive to their environments and more viable in the long term than the retirement systems of today.
Interested researchers may want to consider issues such as:
- How various retirement system components (e.g., private retirement plans, social insurance, group pooling arrangements, savings plans) could be designed incorporating self–adjusting mechanisms;
- How these mechanisms might respond to the potential range of future demographic and financial events;
- The risks to various stakeholders in the system if risks are shifted toward or away from particular stakeholders. Stakeholders in the system can include individuals, plan sponsors, taxpayers, insurers and other financial intermediaries, and markets.
- How adjustments and triggers could be effectively incorporated into a particular retirement system;
- How such mechanisms might function within various components of the retirement system;
- To what extent similar self–adjusting mechanisms should be incorporated throughout various components of the retirement system or apply uniquely to individual components; and/li>
- The tension between providing self–adjusting designs to maintain a robust and sustainable system versus the expectations of individuals to receive the benefit they were "promised," particularly where retirement benefits are viewed as deferred compensation.
Authors may decide to consider several of these issues, or focus exclusively on one issue.
Authors should consider that self–adjusting mechanisms could be added to plans sponsored by single employers (including defined benefit and defined contribution plans), pooling arrangements to cover individuals (e.g., based on occupation), pooling arrangements that cover several employers (such as a union–sponsored, industry–based plan), and broader social insurance systems. Solutions do not need to be constrained by current legislation or practices.
- Content
To expand thinking on this subject, the Society of Actuaries Pension Section Council's Research Team is issuing this Call for Papers, inviting academic researchers, practitioners, plan sponsors, analysts and other interested parties to further the debate, develop proposals and/or identify solutions related to any aspect of self–adjusting mechanisms and their application to retirement systems.
The objective is to compile papers that consider a spectrum of perspectives and solutions, although the organizers recognize that any individual paper is likely to analyze just one or two aspects of the broader question and solution.
Papers that present solutions and design alternatives with longer term or innovative approaches, including solutions that perhaps would not be easily implemented without legislative changes and shifts in societal thinking, are welcome and encouraged.
Authors may submit either original research or expository papers. The papers have no required minimum or maximum length.
- Procedure for Submission of Abstracts
Please submit an abstract or outline of your proposed paper by January 31, 2008 to:
At a minimum, the abstract submission should include a brief description of the subject of the paper, a list of key items to be covered, and a brief biographical paragraph summarizing the author's experience, prior publications and presentations, and contact information.
- Procedure for Reviewing Abstracts
Submitted abstracts will be evaluated by a review group for their potential for presentation at an SOA Pension Section Council–sponsored symposium in the fall of 2008.
Abstract submissions will be accepted, accepted subject to revision, or declined. The review group is scheduled to complete its evaluation of the abstracts/outlines in March 2008.
- Submission of Papers
All papers must be based on accepted abstracts and submitted in a complete format no later than May 31, 2008.
The procedure for submission of papers includes the following specific guidelines:
- Submissions that have a copyright must be accompanied by written permission to reprint.
- Submissions should be made electronically to Jeanne Nallon.
- Publication and Presentation
The review group, after receiving all submissions, will determine if a symposium for presenting the papers is appropriate. Should this occur:
- It is anticipated that travel and lodging expenses for authors selected to present at the symposium will be reimbursed, up to certain limits.
- A final determination as to the number of papers invited to present will be made after all abstracts have been submitted and reviewed.
It is anticipated that all accepted papers will be published. The papers will appear in an on–line monograph and, where appropriate, in Society of Actuaries publications such as The Pension Forum. Upon author request, accepted papers may also be submitted to the North American Actuarial Journal for publication consideration. Authors can submit their papers to other publications provided that the Society of Actuaries can maintain the right to publish the papers.
The Society of Actuaries reserves the right to publish all papers and to copyright all published papers without a previous copyright. In addition, excerpts or synopses of the papers may be published for promotional purposes.
The Society of Actuaries reserves the right to reject or not publish any papers not meeting the criteria and standards set by the review group.
- Questions
Please direct questions regarding this CFP to:
- Steven Siegel, SOA Research Actuary
- ph: 847.706.3578
- f: 847.273.8578
- e–mail: ssiegel@soa.org