Eliciting Pension Beneficiaries’ Sustainability Preferences: Why and How?
Loading...
Penn collection
Wharton Pension Research Council Working Papers
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
pension participant survey
social preferences
socially responsible investments
Economics
social preferences
socially responsible investments
Economics
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Bauer, Rob M.M.J.
Smeets, Paul M.A.
Contributor
Abstract
We explore whether beneficiaries of pension plans should have a voice in the fund’s sustainable investments. We hypothesize that the answer to this question depends on a fund’s legal and societal contexts, benchmarking pressure, and fund-specific factors such as the fund’s size and the board’s composition. We uncover heterogeneity in the degree to which beneficiaries are involved in decision-making. Some pension funds have started a dialogue with their participants, mainly using survey instruments. We provide an example of a fund that gave its participants a real vote, while avoiding the pitfalls that come with hypothetical surveys on individual preferences.
Advisor
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Publication date
2021-07-01
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Comments
The published version of this working paper can be found in the 2023 publication: Pension Funds and Sustainable Investment: Challenges and Opportunities (https://pensionresearchcouncil.wharton.upenn.edu/pension-funds-and-sustainable-investment-challenges-and-opportunities/).