The last forty years have ushered in a shift from defined benefit to defined contribution plans and with that shift, employers have shed market risk and moved it onto workers. Along with this change come difficult issues, including the ability of middle- and lower-income households to bear that risk, the increased volatility of financial markets, the danger of outliving one’s savings, and senior citizens’ ability to continue managing their portfolios when physical or cognitive problems strike. In this symposium, economists, legal scholars, government officials and market participants will come together to discuss how to better understand the defined contribution paradigm and how its risks should be managed and regulated.
8:15 Breakfast
8:45 Welcome to the Law School
9:00 Perspectives on Challenges in Lifecycle Planning for Retirement
Richard L. Kaplan, Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor, University of Illinois College of Law
Russell K. Osgood, Visiting Professor, Washington University School of Law, and immediate past President of Grinnell College
Moderator: James Kwak, Associate Professor of Law, University of Connecticut School of Law
10:00 Break
10:15 Employer and Employee Perspectives on Pensions
Kevin Lembo, State Comptroller, State of Connecticut
Dana M. Muir, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Business Law, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Brishen Rogers, Assistant Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law, Temple University
Edward A. Zelinsky, Morris and Annie Trachman Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Moderator: Michael Fischl, Professor of Law, University of Connecticut School of Law
12:00 Luncheon
12:30 Luncheon Keynote Address
Alicia H. Munnell, Peter F. Drucker Professor of Management Sciences at the Carroll School of Management and Director of the Center for
Retirement Research, Boston College
1:30 Problems With Defined Contribution Plans
Zvi Bodie, Norman and Adele Barron Professor of Management, School of Management, Boston University
Lawrence A. Frolik, Distinguished Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
David Laibson, Robert I. Goldman Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Harvard University
Amy Monahan, Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
Moderator: Patricia A. McCoy, Connecticut Mutual Professor of Law and Director, Insurance Law Center, University of Connecticut School of Law
3:15 Break
3:30 Related Consumer Issues
Mercer E. Bullard, Jessie D. Puckett, Jr., Lecturer and Associate Professor of Law, University of Mississippi School of Law
Megan Thibos, Mortgage Markets Section, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Moderator: Dali Jimnez, Associate Professor of Law, University of Connecticut School of Law