2008 – Publication Years

Deconstructing Lifecycle Expenditure

June 14, 2018
Uncategorized

In this paper we revisit two well-known facts regarding lifecycle expenditures. The first is the familiar “hump” shaped lifecycle profile of nondurable expenditures. The second is that cross-household consumption inequality increases steadily throughout the life cycle. We document that the…

Are All Americans Saving 'Optimally' for Retirement?

June 14, 2018
Uncategorized

There is a considerable amount of discussion in the popular media and in policyand academic writing that Americans are doing a poor job of preparing for retirement. This perception is reinforced by recent low (and sometimes negative) personal saving rates…

Q & A with Hugo Benitez-Silva, May 2008

June 14, 2018
Uncategorized

The Efficiency of Pension Plan Investment Menus: Investment Choices in Defined Contribution Pension Plans

June 14, 2018
pensions, Retirement, retirement savings

Few previous studies have explored whether defined contribution retirement saving plans offer sufficiently diversified investment menus, though it is likely that these menus significantly shape workers’ accumulations of retirement wealth. This paper assesses the efficiency and performance of 401(k)…

Adequacy of Resources in Retirement

June 14, 2018
Uncategorized

We have found that on average those just past the usual retirement age areadequately prepared for retirement in that they will be able to follow a path ofconsumption that begins at their current level of consumption and then follows an…

Forecasting Labor Force Participation and Economic Resources of the Early Baby Boomers

June 14, 2018
Health and Retirement Study, Labor force participation, Retirement, Social Security

This paper forecasts the retirement patterns and resources of the Early Baby Boomers by estimating forward-looking dynamic models of labor force participation, wealth accumulation and pension and Social Security benefit claiming for older workers using seven waves of HRS…

Adequacy of Economic Resources in Retirement and Returns-to-scale in Consumption

June 14, 2018
Retirement

Most assessments of the adequacy of retirement resources are expressed as a comparison of preretirement income to immediate post-retirement income. Yet, among couples a substantial fraction of retirement years is eventually spent by the surviving spouse living alone. To…

Beyond the Golden Age of Retirement

June 14, 2018
Uncategorized

The golden age of retirement has past. Our retirement system is woefully under funded to deliver the level of economic welfare that many people expect from it. In this Policy Brief, we show that continuing down our current path in regard to…

Deferred Annuities and Strategic Asset Allocation

June 14, 2018
Life-cycle model, Mortality trends, Social Security

We derive the optimal portfolio choice and consumption pattern over the lifecycle for households facing labor income, capital market, and mortality risk. In addition to stocks and bonds, households also have access to deferred annuities. Deferred annuities offer a…

How Much do People Know About Economics and Finance? Financial Illiteracy and the Importance of Financial Education

June 14, 2018
Uncategorized

In the modern financial environment, it is especially important for households to have a high degree of financial savvy. However, as this brief demonstrates, there is widespread financial illiteracy with particularly vulnerable population segments. Many households are unfamiliar with even…