November 2018

02Nov

How Does Delayed Retirement Affect Mortality and Health?

By Alice Zulkarnain (Boston College - Center for Retirement Research), Matthew S. Rutledge (Boston College, Center for Retirement Research) Older Americans have been retiring later for a number of reasons, including jobs that are becoming less physically demanding, the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pensions, and changes in Social Security’s incentives. What are the implications of working longer for workers’ mortality and health? Answering this question is complicated, because work and health are jointly determined – healthy people...

November 2, 2018
Aging, Articles, ,
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October 2018

29Oct

The Causal Mechanism of Financial Education: Evidence from Mediation Analysis

By Fenella Carpena (Oslo Business School) & Bilal Zia (World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)) This paper uses a field experiment in India with multiple financial education treatments to investigate the causal mechanisms between financial education and financial behavior. Focusing on the mediating role of financial literacy, the paper proposes a broader definition of financial knowledge that includes three dimensions: numeracy skills, financial awareness, and attitudes toward personal finance. The analysis then employs causal mediation analysis to investigate the proportion...

October 29, 2018
Articles, Savings
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29Oct

Vulnerability: False Hope for Vulnerable Social Security Clients?

By Terry Carney (The University of Sydney Law School) This article reviews the concept of vulnerability and examines its salience for selected aspects of Australian social security. It argues that vulnerability is a welcome shift from individual to relational thinking, of particular relevance to measurement of deprivation and richer transformations of delivery of welfare services (and access to social and informal support). Vulnerability is a productive analytical lens for better understanding aspects of law and policy, but remains too capacious...

October 29, 2018
Articles, Labor Market, ,
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29Oct

Population Aging: Impacts and Policy Imperatives

By The Bank of Korea The Republic of Korea is aging rapidly, as the average woman in her childbearing years gives birth to only 1.17 children ─ among the world’s lowest numbers as of 2016 ─ while people are also living longer. The country is projected to enter into the status of an aged society from 2018, with a share of the elderly in its population of 14.3%, and to become a super-aged society with a share of 20% in...

October 29, 2018
Aging, Articles, , ,
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22Oct

The Pivotal Role of Fairness: Which Consumers Like Annuities?

By Suzanne B. Shu (University of California, Los Angeles - Anderson School of Management), Robert Zeithammer (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Anderson School of Management), John W. Payne (Duke University - Marketing) Life annuities can be a valuable component of the decumulation stage of wealth during retirement. While economists argue that most retirees should annuitize, actual demand in the marketplace is low. We analyze data from two studies to determine how measurable individual differences among consumers affect their...

October 22, 2018
Articles, Pension design, System Sustainability, , ,
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22Oct

The Chinese Pension System

By Hanming Fang (University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)) & Jin Feng (Fudan University - School of Economics) We provide a detailed overview of the current state of the Chinese pension system, as well as its development, its problems and some ideas for future reforms. (more…)

October 22, 2018
Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, System Sustainability, ,
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22Oct

Who Feels the Nudge? Knowledge, Self-Awareness and Retirement Savings Decisions

By Anders Anderson (Swedish House of Finance) & David T. Robinson (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)) Using a financial literacy survey of Swedish pension investors matched to actual retirement savings decisions, we argue that respondents can be broken into three groups: those who are financially literate, those who mistakenly believe they are financially literate, and those who know that they are not. We examine how these groups respond differently to informational nudges encouraging...

October 22, 2018
Articles, Investing, , ,
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16Oct

Stars Aligning For Corporate Plans to Take De-Risking Actions

The market volatility experienced in early to mid-October speaks to the importance of plan sponsors having a governance structure and framework in place to effectuate changes to their portfolios in a timely manner when funded levels rise. As we have seen in prior periods, improvements in funded status can dissipate quickly if portfolios are not adjusted to reduce asset and liability mismatches. A well-funded or even fully funded plan can still carry substantial risk for the sponsor if plan...

October 16, 2018
Articles, Corporate Governance, Pension design, , ,
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12Oct

The Creation and Benchmarking of a Green Municipal Bond Index

By Candace Partridge (University College London - QASER Laboratory), Francesca Medda (University College London - QASER Laboratory) As the green bond market grows, many are wondering if there is a pricing difference between green bonds and conventional bonds. In order to explore these ideas, we created bond indices specific to the green-labelled and climate-aligned municipal bond market, primarily to test the competitiveness of the green sector of the muni bond market against the overall muni bond market. We used the...

October 12, 2018
Articles, Investing, ,
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12Oct

Retirement Savings Inequality: Different Effects of Earnings Shocks, Portfolio Selections, and Employer Contributions by Worker Earnings Level

By Joelle Saad-Lessler (The New School for Social Research), Teresa Ghilarducci (Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA); The New School for Social Research), Gayle Reznik (U.S. Social Security Administration) Changes in accumulated retirement savings, particularly in employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) plan balances, differ by worker’s earnings levels. Earnings shocks, portfolio diversification, and employer contributions to worker’s DC plans affect retirement savings for lower earners more than for higher earners. The authors match Survey of Income and Program Participation data...

October 12, 2018
Articles, Labor Market, Savings, , , ,
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