2007

Previously the author evaluated trading patterns in individually-managed 401(k) accounts, demonstrating that most plan participants trade only rarely in their retirement accounts, though some do engage in active fund switching. Some of the trading results from employers altering fund menus;…

 Our project examines the effects of children on household wealth accumulation. Children affect wealth for several reasons. Family size is correlated with lifetime earnings, so optimal asset accumulation varies depending on the household’s place in the income distribution. The number…

To assess the role of Medicare and employer-provided health insurance in determining retirement, we will estimate and analyze a dynamic programming model of saving and retirement that accounts for uncertain medical expenses, Social Security, and social insurance. We extend our…

As the labor force ages it becomes increasingly important to analyze whether people will work longer if they live longer, and how to encourage this behavior. This will increase the productive capacity of the economy and improve the finances of…

We propose to construct a life-cycle including key determinants of married women’s labor force participation and to estimate the new formulation’s coefficients. This project would aid in understanding increased participation of married women, a dramatic trend that, due to spousal…

This research would shed light on two key labor-supply questions, namely, the effect on retirement of recent declines in DB pension plans and the cross-sectional effect on retirement of differences in late-in-career earning trajectories. Building within the analytic structure of…

Payout annuities help pool longevity risk. Prior studies focused only on fixed lifetime annuities as retirement financing tools (Dus/Maurer/Mitchell 2005); by contrast, this research analyzes both investment and longevity insurance products, recognizing that variable annuity payouts are not known for…

According to data from the Health and Retirement Study and the English Longitudinal Study on Aging, self-employment rates rise with age, and at ages 60 and older, are over 30 percent. Using variation arising from differences in retirement, employment and…

Recent SSA-supported research has demonstrated that retirement planning and well-being are closely tied to probabilistic forecasts about future events. This project will use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study to show that individuals’ subjective survival forecasts exhibit systematic…

In the past decade, many homeowners have seen their net worth increase significantly due to increasing house prices.  Given high home ownership rates among the retirement age population and the importance of home equity in their portfolios, there is significant…