6. Results
6.1.Descriptivestatistics
Table1 presentstheaverageofeachstate'spensionliabilitiesandpensionassetsduringthefiscalyears1990–2009
(in $billions).Column[1]showsthereportedpensionliability,column[2]showstheestimatedpensionliabilitydiscounted
at thediscretion-freeGASBrate,column[3]showstheestimatedpensionliabilitydiscountedattheTreasuryyield,column
[4] showstheactuarialvalueofassets,andcolumn[5]showsthemarketvalueofassets.Thepensionliabilitiesincreaseas
we movefromcolumn[1]tocolumn[3]asthediscountrateistypicallyreduced.Duringthesampleperiod,theaverage
reporteddiscountrateis8%,theaverageestimateddiscretionfreediscountrateis6.8%,andtheaverageTreasuryyieldis
5.9% (see Table2).