6. Results
6.1. Descriptive statistics
Table 1 presents the average of each state's pension liabilities and pension assets during the fiscal years 1990–2009
(in $billions). Column [1] shows the reported pension liability, column [2] shows the estimated pension liability discounted
at the discretion-free GASB rate, column [3] shows the estimated pension liability discounted at the Treasury yield, column
[4] shows the actuarial value of assets, and column [5] shows the market value of assets. The pension liabilities increase as
we move from column [1] to column [3] as the discount rate is typically reduced. During the sample period, the average
reported discount rate is 8%, the average estimated discretion free discount rate is 6.8%, and the average Treasury yield is
5.9% (see Table 2).