Shifting government workers to 401(k)-style plans would offer greater transparency and keep benefits in line with the private economy.

The implication of Occupy Wall Street's demand is that teachers are paid far too little given their skills. The opposite is actually true: According to our analysis of salaries, fringe benefits and job security, most public school teachers are paid considerably more than what they could earn in private-sector jobs.

It is unlikely that increases in federal employee pension contributions or reductions in pension benefits for future federal retirees would lower total compensation below federal workers’ reservation wage, which represents the minimum pay at which a worker will accept a particular type of job.

Current pension accounting rules significantly understate state pension plan liabilities and overstate their funding health. Using accurate accounting, Washington’s combined plans would face a $50.6 billion short fall. By private pension standards Washington’s pension system would be considered endangered.

Joesph Antos' statement on premium support for Medicare before the House Committee on Ways and Means' Subcommittee on Health

For the second year in a row, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has advanced a comprehensive budget plan that would restructure Medicare and Medicaid, repeal the big-spending portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and ultimately resolve the fiscal crisis facing this country. 

Many on the political left decry the disappearance of defined-benefit pension plans from the private sector and strive mightily to maintain them for public-sector employees. The people who put defined-benefit plans and policies in place assumed there would always be someone able to pay for them.

Response to Jeffrey Keefe’s review of “Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers.”