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Session 20: Dealing with "Legacy" Costs in Private and Public Defined-Benefit Pension Systems
The unfunded legacy costs of past pension and health promises are a major roadblock to policy reforms. Policies for health care and pension funding that separate viable future commitments from such sunk costs will provide better incentives and policy outcomes. There are key benefits for investors, the taxpayer and policymakers.
Presentations
Dick Berner's slides (PDF)
Links of Interest
Speakers
Kathleen M. Camilli
President
Camilli Economics
Kathleen Camilli is one of the nation’s top economic forecasters and independent economists. Her firm, Camilli Economics, provides clients, including investment organizations, corporations, high net worth individuals and family offi ces, with “real world” economic guidance for smart business and fi nancial decisions. Building on her more than two decades of accomplished private and public sector experience, Ms. Camilli provides “on target” analysis on the workings of the U.S. economy and financial markets. Armed with a solid foundation of global macro/micro economic perspectives, she offers unique insight into complex issues and translates those into understandable, actionable ideas.
Known for her consistently accurate forecasting, Kathleen Camilli is one of the leading economists in the country today and has received top ranking from objective performance raters, including The Wall Street Journal, who named her one of the top fi ve economic forecasters two years in a row; Business Week, who named her the number one performing forecaster, and Institutional Investor.
Before founding Camilli Economics in 2004, Ms. Camilli was the U.S. Economist at Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) in New York where she provided insight on the U.S. economy to the fi rm’s investment process overseeing $312 billion in fi xed income and equity assets globally. Before joining CSAM, she was Tucker Anthony’s Director of Economic Research for six years. During her career, she has worked as a money market economist at Drexel Burnham Lambert, and as a Fed-watcher at Chase Manhattan Bank. She began her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where she trained as a practicing economist and was responsible for forecasting reserves for the Open Market Desk.
Kathleen Camilli received B.A. degrees in both Economics and French from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She studied at Universite de Laval, Quebec, Canada and Universite de Paris III, VII, France. She earned an M.B.A. in Finance and an M.A. in French Studies from New York University.
A frequent commentator, author and speaker, Kathleen Camilli is well known as a strong communicator and translator of complex issues into understandable, actionable ideas. She appears regularly on CNN, CNBC, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightly Business Report and Bloomberg Business News. She has been quoted in the financial press, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today.
Ms. Camilli is on the Board of Directors of MassBank Corp., the Money Marketeers of New York University and the National Association of Business Economists (NABE). She is a contributor to Blue Chip Financial Forecasts. Ms. Camilli is a member of the Financial Women’s Association, the New York Women’s Bond Club, the Forecasters Club and the New York Association of Business Economists. Her civic activities include serving on the Board of the Epiphany School Foundation.
Richard B. Berner
Chief U.S. Economist
Morgan Stanley
Richard Berner is a Principal in Morgan Stanley's Equity Research Department, and has responsibility for U.S. economic and financial research activities.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Berner received a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Harvard College, and a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He conducted dissertation research under SSRC-Ford Foundation grants at both the University of Louvain, Belgium, and at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Berner was Executive Vice President and Chief Economist at Mellon Bank Corporation, and a member of Mellon Bank's Senior Management Committee. Previously, he served as a Principal and Senior Economist for Morgan Stanley and a Director and Senior Economist for Salomon Brothers. He has also served as Economist for Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, Director of the Washington, DC office of Wharton Econometrics and Economist for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He has been an adjunct professor of economics at Carnegie-Mellon University and at George Washington University.
Mr. Berner is also a member of the Board of the National Association for Business Economics and a member of the Board of Advisors of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC. He has been a member of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Board of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, a member of the Board of Directors and past President of the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School, a member of the Board of Trustees of Sewickley Academy, and a member of the Finance Advisory Committee of the Quaker Valley School District. He has also served as a member of the Pennsylvania Legislative Joint Task Force on Exports.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Director, Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies
Council on Foreign Relations
Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and the
Paul A. Volcker Chair in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. Douglas Holtz-Eakin most recently served as the sixth Director of the Congressional Budget Office, where he was appointed for a four-year term beginning February 4, 2003. Dr. Holtz-Eakin previously served for 18 months as Chief Economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisers, where he also served as Senior Staff Economist in 1989 and 1990. Prior to that, Dr. Holtz-Eakin served as CBO's representative on the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board.
Dr. Holtz-Eakin previously served as a Trustee Professor of Economics at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. At the Maxwell School, he served as Chairman of the Department of Economics and Associate Director of the Center for Policy Research. He also has served as editor of the National Tax Journal, associate editor of the Journal of Human Resources, and as a member of the editorial board for Public Budgeting & Finance, Economics and Politics, Journal of Sports Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, and Public Works Management and Policy.
Dr. Holtz-Eakin has a long-standing and broad interest in the economics of public policy. He has studied the role of federal taxes in home ownership, the contribution of inventories to the business cycle, and a wide variety of topics in state and local government finance. Recently, his research has centered on the economics of fundamental tax reform, productivity effects of public infrastructure; income mobility in the United States; and the role of families, capital markets, health insurance and tax policy in the start-up and survival of entrepreneurial ventures.
