August 2022
05Aug

The Misery of Spending Down the Nest Egg: The Effect of Annuitization on Consumption and Wellbeing

By Yu Gao, George Loewenstein & Xianghong Wang We study the effects of annuitization compared to spending down a lump-sum on consumption and subjective wellbeing. Analyzing longitudinal data on UK retirees before and after the pension reform that provided greater freedom to draw down savings, we find that annuitization increased retirees’ consumption and life satisfaction. To further examine the behavioral channel of these effects, we conducted a field experiment with college students, giving them a flow or lump-sum payment. As...

August 5, 2022
Articles, Payout, Pension design, Savings, , ,
Read more...
05Aug

Public Wage and Pension Indexation in the Euro Area: An Overview

By Cristina D. Checherita-Westphal, João Domingues Semeano, Elena Ahonen, Pierrick Stinglhamber, Stefan Van Parys, Johannes Clemens, Katri Urke, Orsolya Soosaar, Maria Vergou, Maria Flevotomou, David Staunton, Jorge Martínez-Pagés, Aris Avgousti, Gintare Zelionkaite, Olivier Delobbe, Florian Henne, Baiba Brusbārde, John Farrugia, Juergen Attard, Fabrizio Renzi, Marco Savegnago, Doris Prammer, Lukas Reiss, Gerard Eijsink, Jip Italianer, Maria Manuel Campos, Andreja Strojan Kastelec, Barbora Palášthyová, Vratislav Pisca & Jarkko Kivistö. If the responses of wages – both private and public – and of...

August 5, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , , ,
Read more...

July 2022
28Jul

In a Highly Indebted Economy: Security Issues for the Asset-based China’s Reform and the Financial System

By Tianyong Zhou Since the start of the 21st century, all major global economies have been experiencing a shift to a model of low consumption, low interest rate, low inflation, low growth and high debt. China is no exception. This article argues that in the high-indebtedness economic model, the proportion of committed and guaranteed debt service credit is decreasing, while the proportion of asset-backed credit corresponding to debt is on the rise; and with respect to currency stability, the role...

July 28, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , ,
Read more...
28Jul

Trust and Retirement Preparedness: Evidence from Singapore

By Benedict S. Koh, Olivia S. Mitchell & Joelle H. Fong Trust is an essential component of the financial system, and distrust can undermine saving and economic growth. Accordingly, prior research has shown that survey responses to a question about ‘trust in people’ are associated with household willingness to invest in the stock market. Nevertheless, little is known about how trust shapes economic behaviors predictive of retirement preparedness. Our study draws on the Singapore Life Panel (SLP®), a high-frequency internet...

July 28, 2022
Articles, Investing, Savings, , ,
Read more...
28Jul

Wait Your Turn: Pension Incentives, Workplace Rules and Labor Supply Among Philadelphia Municipal Workers

By David McCarthy & Po Lin Wang Little academic work has examined the labor supply response to pension incentives at the intensive margin. We explore this issue using individual-level administrative and pension data for Philadelphia city employees, where workers have some choice about whether or not to perform overtime, which is pensionable. We document large variation across workers in the incentives to do overtime provided by pension rules. Although standard regressions show that worker overtime is positively associated with own...

July 28, 2022
Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, , , ,
Read more...
22Jul

The Effects of Myopia on Retirement Savings Decisions

By Justin van de Ven Recent pensions policy debate in the United Kingdom has emphasised the role of behavioural myopia in justifying state involvement in retirement provisions (e.g. Pensions Commission, 2005, pp. 68-69, and op.cit.). In this regard, it appears that the public debate has gotten slightly ahead of the economic literature, as there currently exist very few studies that consider the empirical support for myopia on field data, or the practical implications of myopia for behavioural responses to policy...

July 22, 2022
Articles, Savings, , ,
Read more...
22Jul

New Evidence on the Demand for Advice within Retirement Plans

By Jonathan Reuter & David P. Richardson. We study demand for advice within defined contribution retirement plans offered by 23 institutions where TIAA is sole recordkeeper. Advice seeking increases with age, account balance, annual contribution level, web access, and changes in marital status. More provocatively, participants who invest solely through target date funds—the dominant default investment option—are significantly less likely to seek any form of advice throughout the age distribution, raising the possibility that reliance upon defaults crowds out advice...

July 22, 2022
Articles, Pension design, , ,
Read more...
22Jul

Myopic Savings Behaviour of Future Polish Pensioners

By Sonia Buchholtz, Jan Gaska & Marek Góra Low saving rates combined with low effective retirement age herald old-age poverty. This paper examines the preferred strategies of future Polish pensioners in order to sustain the standard of living in the future. A two-step approach is used: as a first-best strategy, we explore determinants of supplementary saving with binary logistic models; as a second-best strategy, we examine alternative options with principal component analysis. Future retirees rarely accumulate long-term savings, do not use...

July 22, 2022
Articles, Savings, , , ,
Read more...
15Jul

Seven Economic Facts About the U.S. Racial Wealth Gap

By Kristen Broady, Darlene Booth-Bell & Taylor Griffin Using data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances and the U.S. Census Bureau, along with data and research from other sources, this paper presents seven economic facts about the racial wealth gap in the U.S. We present data on racial disparities in income, employment, homeownership, education, access to credit, and retirement savings – all factors that contribute to a significant and persistent gap in net worth between households of different races...

July 15, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , ,
Read more...
15Jul

Old Age Pensions and Social Security Today: Need to Introduce ‘Time Bank’ for the Unmet Social Needs of the Elderly in Uganda

By Kibs Boaz Muhanguzi World over, many programs have been put in place to ensure reasonable welfare and relevance of the elderly senior citizens in the community. Out of these diverse programs, pensions and social security fund, and Social Assistance Grants for the Elderly (SAGE) are common. Of recent, the introduction of time banks; a non-financial, barter system of exchange, with the aim of ensuring access to the unmet social needs of the elderly people in the community has emerged....

July 15, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , ,
Read more...