Mariana Trujillo
Managing Director, Government Finance, Reason Foundation
Mariana Trujillo is managing director of government finance at Reason Foundation, where she leads research on the fiscal health of federal, state, and local governments.
Her work examines government debt, public pension liabilities, state and local budgeting, and the effects of retirement benefits on public-employee recruitment and retention. She leads Reason Foundation’s Government Finance Dashboard, a national database and interactive research platform covering the finances of states, cities, counties, and school districts.
Trujillo’s research has been cited by The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Bond Buyer, and other national publications. Her commentary has appeared in Reason Magazine, Governing, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Hartford Courant, and the Los Angeles Daily News. She has testified before state legislatures and presented her research to policymakers, public-finance professionals, and researchers across the country.
She holds a B.A. in economics from George Mason University and is an alumna of the Stand Together Koch Associate Program and the Mercatus Center’s Schumpeter Fellowship. Before joining Reason Foundation, she interned at JPMorgan, The Mercatus Center, and The Cato Institute.
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West Virginia improved teacher retirement funding through increased spending, not better plan design
West Virginia simply started dedicating enough money to pay for the public pension promises it was making.
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How high interest rates impact public pension systems
Higher interest rates and pension systems' investment strategies risks burdening workers and taxpayers with even larger unfunded liabilities.
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Dallas should not bet on pension obligation bonds to save pension system
The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System has $3 billion in unfunded liabilities. But pension obligation bonds do not refinance pension debt, they leverage it.
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The way Michigan’s pension reform tackles public pension debt is a model for other states
Rather than simply paying off public pension debt, Michigan created a mechanism to push local pension systems toward solvency.
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Why public pension systems invest in private equity, even when they shouldn’t
Public pension funds are under pressure to reduce the accumulating debt as much as possible and present an actual rate of return that matches estimates.
