In the setting of defined-benefit pension liabilities, we hypothesize that equity and debt investors value these liabilities differently. As expected, we find that investors' valuations of equity more closely align with a going concern perspective that emphasizes the long-term funding needs of pension plans. In contrast, as expected, we find that investors' pricing of short-term and unsecured debt more closely aligns with a settlement perspective that emphasizes pension termination costs. For both equity and debt securities, the settlement (going concern) perspective dominates for short-duration (long-duration) pensions. Overall, our evidence suggests that equity and debt investors perceive complex liabilities in predictably different ways that are consistent with their differing information demands, which in turn vary with the characteristics of the obligation.

在设定受益养老金负债的设定中，我们假设股权和债务投资者对这些负债的估值不同。正如预期的那样，我们发现投资者对股票的估值与持续经营的观点更加一致，后者强调了养老金计划的长期资金需求。相反，正如预期的那样，我们发现投资者对短期和无担保债务的定价与强调退休金终止成本的结算观点更加吻合。对于股本和债务证券，短期（长期）养老金以“结算（持续经营）”观点为主。总体而言，我们的证据表明，股票和债务投资者以与他们不同的信息需求相一致的可预测的不同方式来感知复杂的负债，