Zachary Christensen
Managing Director, Pension Integrity Project
Zachary Christensen is a managing director of Reason Foundation's Pension Integrity Project.
Christensen’s work with Reason's Pension Integrity Project aims to promote solvent, sustainable retirement systems that provide retirement security for government workers while reducing long term costs for taxpayers and employees. Zachary and his team provides education, reform policy options, and actuarial analysis for policymakers and stakeholders to help them design reform proposals that are practical and viable.
The Pension Integrity Project has provided technical assistance to several successful pension reform efforts in recent years, including in Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, South Carolina, Texas and other states tackling persistent pension solvency challenges.
Christensen has contributed to in-depth solvency analysis of the Arizona PSPRS, Arkansas TRS, Louisiana TRSL, Texas ERS, and Texas TRS pension plans.
Christensen's work has been published in the Los Angeles Daily News, Orange County Register, NJ.com, Colorado Politics, and many other publications. He has also been featured in the Carolina Journal and the Michigan Capitol Confidential. His research has been published by the Hoover Institution, The Platte Institute, Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Rio Grande Foundation.
Prior to joining Reason Foundation, Christensen was a pension finance analyst at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where he worked on widely-cited research on the funding status and accounting methods for public sector retirement systems.
Christensen holds an M.S. in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and a B.S. in Political Science from Brigham Young University.
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Alaska avoids attempt to roll back 2005 pension reform
Instead of unraveling pension progress, policymakers should seek to bolster the policies that brought resiliency and reliability.
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The Great Resignation highlights the need for public pension plans to adapt to today’s mobile workforce
Governments should consider modernizing their retirement plans and options for workers who don’t intend to stay in one position or with one employer for multiple decades.
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Comparing how much states contribute to public workers’ defined contribution retirement plans
Government employers should ensure their contributions to employees' defined contribution retirement plan are in line with industry best practices.
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Alaska pension bill would bring major financial risk and unfunded liability growth
House Bill 55 would commit Alaska to unpredictable long-term costs for public safety workers' pensions so it is crucial to consider the costs over decades, not just a few years.
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Current pension plans aren’t helping recruit and retain teachers
The data show that public pension offerings may be preventing public schools from providing teaching staff what they really want: higher salaries.
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Gov. DeSantis’ proposed budget would improve Florida’s defined contribution retirement plan for teachers, workers
The governor’s proposal would raise the state's retirement contribution rate for employers by 3 percent, bolstering employees' retirement accounts.
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Testimony: Recommendations for the FRS Investment Plan
Adjustments to Florida's public defined contribution retirement plan could better serve employees and taxpayers.
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Three reasons why public pensions still need reform
Despite realizing excellent investment returns in 2021, public pension plans are still in need of reforms to prevent future debt and ensure they can pay out promised benefits.
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Colorado’s pension debt may be worse than policymakers think
A change to PERA's mortality assumptions, which more accurately project the length of time current members will be drawing benefits from the plan, added $3.1 billion in liabilities.