Zachary Christensen
Managing Director, Pension Integrity Project, Reason Foundation
Zachary Christensen is a managing director of Reason Foundation's Pension Integrity Project.
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Texas Cities Take on More Pension Risk than the Rest of the Country
Taking more risks in asset allocation may pay off in some years, but also exposes pension funds to the possibility of major losses.
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Fort Worth Employees Vote for Meaningful Pension Reform
The changes to Fort Worth’s public pension plan focus on adjustments to both contributions and benefits.
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Fort Worth Takes Steps Toward Meaningful Pension Reform
The proposed changes could be a major step towards protecting the retirement security of Fort Worth’s police, fire, and other government workers.
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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