2018 – Publication Years

Social Security Household Benefits: Measuring Program Knowledge

December 10, 2018
Susan Barnes
Social Security program communications, Social Security spousal benefits

Using Consequence Messaging to Improve Understanding of Social Security

December 10, 2018
Susan Barnes
Behavioral economics, Social Security program communications

Addressing Social Security’s Solvency While Promoting High Labor Force Participation

December 6, 2018
Susan Barnes
Labor force participation, OASDI trust funds, Payroll taxes

A number of proposals and options to address OASI trust-fund solvency have been suggested in recent years. The present work attempts to examine solvency-promoting reforms from the standpoint of economic efficiency — that is, from the perspective of their effect…

The Decline in the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate

December 3, 2018
Susan Barnes
Labor force participation, Older workers

After peaking around the year 2000, the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of Americans declined substantially, falling faster after the financial crisis of 2007. Since 2015, the LFPR has remained at its lowest in four decades. In this paper, we…

A Meta-Analysis of the Decline in the Labor Force Participation Rate

September 20, 2018
Susan Barnes
Labor force participation, Program interaction

Shocks and Transitions from Career Jobs to Bridge Jobs and Retirement: A New Approach

September 20, 2018
Susan Barnes
Health, Older workers, Retirement, retirement savings, Second career

SeaTE: Subjective ex ante Treatment Effect of Health on Retirement

September 11, 2018
Susan Barnes
Financial well-being, Health, Labor force participation, Older workers, Retirement

This paper develops an innovative approach to measuring the effect of health on retirement. The approach elicits subjective probabilities of working at specified time horizons fixing health level. Using a treatment-effect framework, within-individual differences in elicited probabilities of working given…

2017 Key Findings

August 29, 2018
Susan Barnes
Affordable Care Act, Financial well-being, Health, Life-cycle model, Older workers, Program interaction, retirement savings, Social Security reform, Social Security spousal benefits, Veterans

A Meta-Analysis of the Decline in the Labor Force Participation Rate

August 28, 2018
Susan Barnes
Labor force participation, Program interaction

This project explores the causes behind the recent decline in the Labor Force Participation (LFP) rate. The analysis examines the evolution of the LFP rate for different demographic groups to gauge the effect of demographic changes. An integral part of…

Quicksand or Bedrock for Behavioral Economics? Assessing Foundational Empirical Questions

June 21, 2018
Susan Barnes
Behavioral economics, Financial well-being

Behavioral economics lacks empirical evidence on some foundational questions. We adapt standard elicitation methods to measure multiple behavioral factors per person in a representative U.S. sample, along with financial condition, cognitive skills, financial literacy, classical preferences, and demographics. Individually, behavioral…