Principal-agent relationships and pension fund portfolio selection

This paper deals with the principal-agent relationships involved by the management of pension funds. The focus is made on private defined benefit pension funds in the US. We first underline the main characteristics of management and financial pension policy. We then identify the principal-agent relationships in a context of asymmetric information. In a last section, a principal-agent model shows that the delegation of portfolio decision may increase risk taking to the detriment of the pension beneficiaries. Classification JEL : G23.