In the wake of the financial crisis, everyone from elected officials to the media has pointed to public pension funding shortfalls with alarm, expressing concern that pension promises are unsustainable. BC Drucker Professor of Management Sciences Alicia H. Munnell, drawing upon her practical experience and prior research, debunks the notion that all public pension plans are in trouble in her new book State and Local Pensions: What Now? Her analysis finds that a few plans are in serious trouble and in need of a major overhaul. Many plans, however, are functioning reasonably well, but face challenges. Her book was recently reviewed by the magazine Governing. Munnell is a former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and currently directs the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.