The four essays collected in this dissertation serve as a contribution to the broad field of pension finance. They focus on the economic understanding of liability valuation on the one hand and investment policy for pension funds on the other. The first article concerns the impact of the sponsor’s creditworthiness on the valuation of contingent pension liabilities and optimal investment policy. The second article considers the relationship between investment policy, regulatory environment and the valuation of contingent pension liabilities. The third article describes how pension funds adjust their asset allocation in reaction to the performance of the stock market. The final article tests how pension funds account for the age of the participants in choosing their investment strategy
