2019
2019 RDRC Meeting: The Impact of the Minimum Wage on DI Participation
This report provides an empirical analysis of the impact of the minimum wage on DI claims and awards. It draws on data from the Social Security Administration’s State Agencies Monthly Workload (MOWL) Dataset, from which a state-by-year panel of DI…
2019 RDRC Meeting: A Meta-analysis of the Decline in the Labor Force Participation Rate
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…
2019 RDRC Meeting: Trends in Retirement Income Adequacy: Evidence from IRS Tax Data
We examine trends in retirement income across the 1930-1941 birth cohorts using a 5% random sample from IRS tax data, comprising 22.6 million person-years. An advantage of our analysis is that we do not rely upon survey reports of income,…
2019 RDRC Meeting: The Impacts of Payday Loan Use on the Financial Well-being of OASDI and SSI Beneficiaries
This project explores whether the use of payday loans among Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients affect their financial well-being. Specifically, it studies the borrowing behaviors of low-wealth OASDI and SSI beneficiaries who rely on alternative financial services, such…
2019 MRDRC Meeting: Inattentive Households and Consumption Declines during Retirement
There is little agreement on the question of whether U.S. households are well-prepared for retirement. We revisit this debate using the Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS) linked to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to better understand the dynamics…
2019 RDRC Meeting: Pension Reform and Return to Work Policies
For many people, working after beginning retirement benefit collection is a way to enhance financial security by increasing income. Existing research has shown that retirees are sensitive to the Social Security earnings test, which restricts the amount of earnings some…
2019 RDRC Meeting: The Changing Nature of Work and Public Pension Coverage: Evidence from the U.S. and Europe
We examine nonstandard work and its impact on pension coverage via a case study of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. We define nonstandard work broadly to include alternative work, contingent work, and self-employment. We discuss how nonstandard…
2019 RDRC Meeting: Public Pension Design and Household Retirement Decisions: Cross-national Comparisons
This ongoing project aims to document responsiveness in a number of countries to social security program incentives for household labor force participation, with a particular focus on spouse and survivor benefits. In the United States, Social Security benefits in a…
2019 RDRC Meeting: The Effect of Relabeling and Incentives on Retirement: Evidence from a Pension Reform
We examine a reform in Finland which relabeled retirement ages without changing average financial incentives. We find that relabeling the early retirement age as a “normal” retirement age substantially increased early retirement. This relabeling effect was large relative to financial…
2019 RDRC Meeting: Interest Rate Trends in a Global Context: Expanding the Evidence Base for Forecasting
Real interest rates have been declining both in the United States and across the developed world. This project undertakes a quantitative assessment of both global and domestic factors in the determination of U.S. interest rates and evaluates the relevance…