April 2018

16Apr

Why Do Defaults Affect Behavior? Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan

By Joshua Blumenstock, Michael Callen, Tarek Ghani We report on an experiment examining why default options impact behavior. By randomly assigning employees to different varieties of a salary-linked savings account, we find that default enrollment increases participation by 40 percentage points—an effect equivalent to providing a 50% matching incentive. We then use a series of experimental interventions to differentiate between explanations for the default effect, which we conclude is driven largely by present-biased preferences and the cognitive cost of thinking...

April 16, 2018
Articles, Labor Market, Savings, ,
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March 2018

19Mar

When I’m Sixty-four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them

By Teresa Ghilarducci A crisis is looming for baby boomers and anyone else who hopes to retire in the coming years. In When I'm Sixty-Four, Teresa Ghilarducci, the nation's leading authority on the economics of retirement, explains how to confront this crisis head-on, revealing the causes behind the increasingly precarious economics of old age in America and proposing a bold plan to guarantee retirement security for every working citizen. Retirement is one of the hallmarks of a prosperous, civilized market...

March 19, 2018
Books, Pension design, Savings, ,
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12Mar

Suggestions for a Scheme of Old Age Pensions: With an Introductory Chapter Dealing with the Report of the Committee on Old Age Pensions

By Lionel Holland Excerpt from Suggestions for a Scheme of Old Age Pensions: With an Introductory Chapter Dealing With the Report of the Committee on Old Age Pensions. The Report of the Committee on Old Age Pensions, which was appointed in July, 1896, has at length been issued. The circumstances which led up to the appoint ment of this Committee may be sufficiently indicated in a few sentences. Read more HERE

March 12, 2018
Books, Pension design
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February 2018

26Feb

Old-Age Provision and Homeownership – Fiscal Incentives and Other Public Policy Options

By Martina Eckardt (Editor),‎ Jörg Dötsch (Editor), & Stefan Okruch (Editor) In light of demographic change and the growing problems of traditional old-age security systems, this book discusses two essential instruments in connection with privately providing for old-age security: (1) savings in private pension schemes and (2) building up equity for home-ownership. Further, it assesses the relationship between the two instruments and offers a unique overview of the latest market developments. In order to represent the profound differences between the individual...

February 26, 2018
Books, Pension design, Savings,
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January 2018

29Jan

Work-Life Balance and Labor Force Attachment at Older Ages

By Marco Angrisani (Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR)), Maria Casanova (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Department of Economics) & Erik Meijer (University of Southern California; RAND Corporation) We use data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the role of work-life balance (WLB) as a nonmonetary determinant of retirement transitions, conditional on job attributes such as hours of work, compensation and benefits. We show that low levels of WLB are significantly associated with subsequent reductions...

January 29, 2018
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Slider-Left, ,
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December 2017
04Dec

Securing Lifelong Retirement Income: Global Annuity Markets and Policy

By Olivia S. Mitchel Interest in longevity and longevity risk management is burgeoning, as government and regulatory agencies are increasingly conscious of the potential risks and benefits of longer lifespans. Commercial and industrial organizations, especially within the financial sector, are awakening to the opportunities presented by population aging, along with the new array of financial insurance instruments to manage longevity risk, which more sophisticated markets are making possible. This volume explores three main themes: the need for products to manage...

December 4, 2017
Books, Corporate Governance, Investing, Regulation, , ,
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November 2017

20Nov

The Rising Longevity Gap by Lifetime Earnings – Distributional Implications for the Pension System

By Peter Haan (DIW Berlin), Daniel Kemptner (DIW Berlin), Holger Lüthen (DIW Berlin) This study uses German social security records to provide novel evidence about the heterogeneity in life expectancy by lifetime earnings and, additionally, documents the distributional implications of this earnings-related heterogeneity. We find a strong association between lifetime earnings and life expectancy at age 65 and show that the longevity gap is increasing across cohorts. For West German men born 1926-28, the longevity gap between top and bottom...

November 20, 2017
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Savings, Slider-Left, Uncategorized, ,
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03Nov

The Nation’s Retirement System: A Comprehensive Re-Evaluation Is Needed to Better Promote Future Retirement Security

By Charles A. Jeszeck, Margie K Shields, Justine Augeri, Christina Cantor, Gustavo Fernandez, Jennifer Gregory, Adam Wendel, Seyda Wentworth (Government Accountability Office) The U.S. retirement system, and the workers and retirees it was designed to help, face major challenges. Traditional pensions have become much less common, and individuals are increasingly responsible for planning and managing their own retirement savings accounts, such as 401(k) plans. Yet research shows that many households are ill-equipped for this task and have little or no...

November 3, 2017
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Regulation, , ,
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03Nov

The Nation's Retirement System: A Comprehensive Re-Evaluation Is Needed to Better Promote Future Retirement Security

By Charles A. Jeszeck, Margie K Shields, Justine Augeri, Christina Cantor, Gustavo Fernandez, Jennifer Gregory, Adam Wendel, Seyda Wentworth (Government Accountability Office) The U.S. retirement system, and the workers and retirees it was designed to help, face major challenges. Traditional pensions have become much less common, and individuals are increasingly responsible for planning and managing their own retirement savings accounts, such as 401(k) plans. Yet research shows that many households are ill-equipped for this task and have little or no...

November 3, 2017
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Regulation, , ,
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October 2017
20Oct

Expanding Canada Pension Plan Retirement Benefits: Assessing Big CPP Proposals

By Jonathan Rhys Kesselman (Simon Fraser University School of Public Policy) Current and growing deficiencies in many workers’ ability to maintain their accustomed living standards in retirement have evoked varied proposals for reform of Canada’s retirement income system. This study focuses on proposals for expanding the retirement benefits of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and undertakes comparative analysis with proposals for reforms affecting workplace pensions and individual savings. It begins by reviewing key policy questions for the retirement income system...

October 20, 2017
Articles, Corporate Governance, Pension design, Savings, ,
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