Zachary Christensen
Managing Director, Pension Integrity Project, Reason Foundation
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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Unfunded Liabilities Are Forcing Texas TRS Pension Contributions Ever Higher
The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) of Texas’ amortization payments have grown since 2003 and take up an increasing amount of teacher and state contributions.
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Texas TRS: Examining the 7.25 Percent Assumed Rate of Return
Adopting a more realistic projection of investment returns and the estimated value of pension benefits is important to ensuring Texas will uphold promises made to teachers.
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Teacher Retirement System of Texas: Why 80 Percent Funded Is Not Enough
TRS has at least $35.4 billion in pension debt, and billions more if the pension plan’s assumptions are wrong.
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How the Texas Teacher Retirement System’s Unfunded Liability Grew to $35.4 Billion
The key factors driving growth in TRS’ unfunded liability.
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Privatization Doesn’t Orphan Public Pension Systems
Members leaving a pension plan add nothing to a plan’s unfunded liabilities since no additional pension “liability” can accrue for work not undertaken.
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Fort Worth Employee Pension Challenge Requires a Multifaceted Solution
The brewing pension crisis means public workers face a critical decision.
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More Positive Signs for Colorado’s Pension
Early signs continue to support Reason Foundation’s analysis.
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City of Harvey’s Pension Liabilities Raise Questions on Municipal and State Responsibility
Harvey, a city south of Chicago, appears to be the canary in the coal mine, as more than 200 other municipalities in Illinois face the real possibility of seeing revenue intercepted due to a 2011 state law.
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Early Positive Results From Colorado’s Pension Reform
S&P Global Ratings announced that it was revising Colorado’s credit outlook from “negative” to “stable” in light of the passage of major reform.
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Colorado Adopts Significant Pension Changes for All Public Employees
In SB200, the Colorado Legislature has enacted meaningful improvements to the state’s pension system, which will lead PERA to a considerably improved long-term position.
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Dallas Police and Fire Pension Reforms See Early Success
Dallas is demonstrating the value in passing reforms that focus on core issues of governance and supplementary pension accounts.
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Reason Introduces Interactive Visualization of Colorado’s Unfunded Pension Liability
The visualization uses annual PERA reports to break down the sources of the system’s added unfunded liabilities over the past 20 years.
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New Jersey and the Rate of Return Rollback
A pension fund’s assumed rate of return is meant to represent the most accurate average long-term return on assets, but sometimes political factors are put ahead of accurate financial projections.
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State Funded Ratios Over Time
The evolution in funded ratios for state pension plans from 2001-16
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Which States Are Hiding the Most Pension Debt
How Much Do Reported Pension Obligations Increase When Using a Market Valuation of the Promised Benefits
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