The Law & Economics Center at George Mason University School of Law will host two events during the fall of 2016 on The Economics and Law of Public Pension Reform.
We believe the looming public pension crisis poses a considerable threat to states’ fiscal soundness and public welfare that can be better addressed by promoting scholarly research on the subject and disseminating the results of that research to the appropriate audiences.
The first event is a roundtable on September 29-30, 2016. The papers (scholarly papers aimed at addressing the looming pension crisis) will be published as a journal symposium issue or as a book.
The second event will consist of a two-day Policy Conference bringing together members of the scholarly community, practitioners, judges, attorneys general, government regulators, and public policy commentators. Panels will include some or all of the papers developed for the Roundtable. The Conference will also be held at George Mason University School of Law on December 1-2, 2016.
PAPER PROPOSALS: Those interested in receiving funding for research leading to a paper on the public pension crisis should send their paper, precis, or abstract by April 10, 2016, to Jeffrey Smith, LEC Program Coordinator, at jsmithq[@]gmu.edu. Eight papers will be selected for the Roundtable. Selection is competitive. Selections will be made and authors notified by May 1, 2016.
Authors will be responsible for submitting a substantial draft of their paper by September 5, 2016. Authors will receive a $12,000 total honorarium (inclusive of travel expenses). An initial payment of $6,000 will be made upon timely draft paper completion and presentation at the Roundtable. The LEC will provide authors with meals at the Roundtable and lodging on the night of September 29, 2016. In addition to presenting their papers, authors will be expected to read the other selected papers and serve as Roundtable discussants.
Authors will then revise their papers based on comments received at the Roundtable and present their final paper at the December Policy Conference. Authors will be asked to submit their final draft by mid-November. Meals will be provided at the Conference as well as lodging for the night of December 1, 2016. The final honorarium payment of $6,000 will be paid following submission of the final draft and participation in the Conference.
TOPICS: Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
– Whether public employees pay for their pensions in forgone cash wages
– Insights on the financial economics of public pensions
– The legal nature and limits of pension rights, whether gratuity, contract, or positive constitutional right
– The political economy of public pension reform
– The intergenerational implications of reform or failure to reform
– Illinois Constitution’s Pension Non-impairment Clause
– Legal analysis of past or pending pension litigation
– Legal analysis of various pension reform proposals
