However, the paper also said public and church pension plans typically have financial flexibility in how they can manage their pension obligations because they are able to use a liability discount rate that reflects the long-term expected return on plan investments. This, it said, results in lower, more predictable reported liability values. They can also establish relatively long amortization periods to pay back any underfunded liabilities, which provides more contribution stability, and they can smooth out investment gains and losses over a longer number of years.”