May 2019

31May

Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt

By John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, Bill Skimmyhorn Does automatic enrollment into retirement savings plans increase borrowing outside the plan? We study this question using a natural experiment created when the U.S. Army began automatically enrolling its newly hired civilian employees into the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) at a default contribution rate of 3% of income. We find that four years after hire, automatic enrollment causes no significant change in debt excluding auto loans...

May 31, 2019
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24May

Retirement and Social Security

By Giam Cipriani, Tamara Fioroni In this paper, we analyse the effects of demographic change on a PAYG pension system, financed with a defined contribution scheme. In particular we examine the relationship between retirement, fertility and pensions in a three-period overlapping generations model. We focus on both the case of mandatory retirement and the case where the retirement age is freely chosen. In the case of mandatory retirement, increasing longevity has an unambiguously negative impact on fertility and pension...

May 24, 2019
Aging, Articles, Pension design, Savings, , ,
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10May

How Financial Literacy Impacts Retirement Savings: The Role of Present Bias and Exponential Growth Bias

By Kanin Anantanasuwong Lack of saving for retirement is a major issue, especially in soon-to-be ageing societies. In this paper we examine the impact of financial literacy on retirement savings, as well as its effect on present bias and exponential growth bias, which have been identified as detrimental to savings in previous studies. We find that better financial literacy is related with a more accurate perception of exponential growth, which stimulates retirement savings. In addition, financially literate individuals are...

May 10, 2019
Articles, Savings, ,
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10May

Financial Literacy and Saving for Retirement among Kenyan Households

By Teresa Schützeichel In this paper I examine financial literacy and saving for retirement in Kenya using the household survey of 2016 from FinAccess Kenya. I use probit regressions to determine the effect financial literacy has on individuals saving regularly as well as saving for retirement. My findings show that households with higher levels of financial literacy will tend to have a higher likelihood to save on a regular basis and subsequently save for retirement. I find that women, the...

May 10, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Savings, , ,
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April 2019

07Apr

Lump-sum Pension Payments: Who Are the Winners and Losers?

By Olivia Mitchel The U.S. Treasury department’s move last month to allow private companies to pay lump-sum pension payments to retirees and beneficiaries, instead of monthly payments, is good news for companies that do not want to be saddled with long-term pension obligations – particularly for private sector employers who have underfunded pension plans.However, lump-sum pension payments may not work out well for retirees who opt for them. While a debate has ensued on the merits and risks of lump-sum...

April 7, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Pension Management, Savings, ,
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March 2019

27Mar

The phony retirement crisis

By Andrew Biggs Contrary to the alarms, household savings are growing. But government plans are underfunded. Lawmakers are taking action to deal with the “retirement crisis.” More than 200 House Democrats are sponsoring a bill to expand Social Security benefits, funded by a dramatic increase in taxes. California, Connecticut, Illinois and Oregon have established state-run retirement plans for private sector-workers, which many progressives hope will supplant 401(k)s. But there is no retirement crisis among either today’s retirees or tomorrow’s. Eight in 10...

March 27, 2019
Articles, Management, OP Ed, Savings, Slider-Left, System Sustainability, , ,
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19Mar

Early Access to Pension Savings : International Experience and Lessons Learnt

By Fiona Stewart, Himanshi Jain & Will Sandbrook The objectives of a well-designed pension system are poverty reduction in old age and income smoothing throughout an individuals' lifetime. Over the last thirty years, changing demographic trends have caused a shift from 'pay as you go' and occupational defined benefit (DB) schemes - where the obligation for paying for retirement income is with the state and employers - to defined contribution (DC) schemes, where the obligation to save for retirement rests...

March 19, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Savings, Slider-Left, ,
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17Mar

The Feasibility of Reverse Mortgages in Japan

By Richard K. Green (University of Southern California - Lusk Center for Real Estate) & Linna Zhu (USC Sol Price School of Public Policy) This paper examines the feasibility of reverse mortgages in Japan by utilizing stochastic modeling to characterize the movements of three stochastic variables—interest rates, property values and mortality—underpinning the value of reverse mortgages. We use the yield curve to forecast future interest rates, taking into account the interest arbitrage condition and the term premium. We employ hedonic...

March 17, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Savings, , ,
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February 2019

23Feb

Household Savings in Central Eastern and Southeastern Europe: How Do Poorer Households Save?

By Elisabeth Beckmann (Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB)) Based on a survey of households in 10 Central Eastern European and Western Balkan countries, this paper presents new and unique evidence on which households have savings and how they save. The paper shows that the percentage of savers is low, and savings are frequently informal. Formal savings are dominated by bank savings, and participation in contractual and capital market savings is very low in comparison to high-income countries. Poor households are significantly less...

February 23, 2019
Articles, Labor Market, Savings, , , ,
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17Feb

Intergenerational Fairness: Will Our Kids Live Better than We Do

By Parisa Mahboubi (C.D. Howe Institute) While large government deficits and debt raise concerns regarding intergenerational fairness, their longterm intergenerational impacts can significantly differ, depending on demographic shifts and future economic policy. In particular, population aging in Canada has accelerated during the past decade due to declining fertility and improving life expectancy. This demographic transition poses new fiscal challenges since it dampens growth in government revenue while putting pressure on government spending, particularly in healthcare and public pensions. Generational accounting...

February 17, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, Savings, , ,
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