2006

Data quality is an issue of longstanding concern to researchers interested in wealth accumulation. This proposal summarizes work done on some simple survey extensions—innovations that may significantly improve the quality of household economic data. An important extension is the use…

Respondent data collected in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) suggest that the trend to earlier retirement is reasserting itself among younger HRS men, after having leveled off from its historic decline over the past 15 years. In contrast, data…

Proposals to alter Social Security or Medicare benefits will need to take into account the economic resources and needs of the pre-retirement cohorts. Yet, the most widely used measure, the income replacement rate, is not an adequate guide to assessing…

Although the adequacy of household retirement savings has been analyzed using a number of methodologies, there is little consensus regarding the extent to which individuals adequately prepare to finance their retirement. This project will shed light on the issue of…

Many households in the US have done little or no planning for retirement. Women represent a disproportionate share of non-planners, and there is much concern about how female-headed households will fare after retirement. To gain a better insight on these…

This project will illustrate how participant and plan characteristics shape trading behavior in retirement accounts in the existing 401(k) plan system. Individually-managed 401(k) accounts are the most widespread form of pension saving in America, now covering more active workers than…

In previous work, the authors found that a partial (50 percent) privatization of Social Security can lead to sizable efficiency gains in the presence of insurable wage shocks, due to improved labor supply incentives. But when, more realistically, wage shocks…

Increased labor supply may be one of several responses of the elderly to insufficient retirement income. If the Federal government considers policies to encourage labor supply among the elderly, they must understand how various features of the tax code encourage…

For most people, waiting until 65 to claim Social Security is financially advantageous. Yet, the majority claim early, at age 62. Another important financial decision at retirement is whether or not to annuitize retirement wealth, such as would be accumulated…

The life-cycle model is economists' primary framework for analyzing Social Security reform. First, this project would expand the life-cycle model’s framework to incorporate home-production decisions of both males and females, thereby strengthening its realism, scope, and usefulness for policy evaluation.…