Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Government Pension Funds Are Playing the Markets Wrong
Government pension funds manage trillions of dollars in assets, but their investment strategies often lag behind private sector peers due to political constraints and outdated mandates. This episode examines how the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest U.S. public pension fund, has underperformed by sticking to a rigid asset allocation that missed the tech boom of the 2010s. We explore why pension funds are forced to buy bonds when they should be in equities, how political pressure leads to suboptimal real estate bets, and what the data say about the true…
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