Olivia S. Mitchell
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor , University of Pennsylvania
Olivia S. Mitchell is the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor, professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, professor of Insurance and Risk Management, and the executive director of the Pension Research Council at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. At the University, Dr. Mitchell is also the Director of the Boettner Center on Pensions and Retirement Research. She is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a co-investigator for the AHEAD / Health and Retirement Studies at the University of Michigan. Dr. Mitchell’s main areas of research and teaching are private and public insurance, risk management, public finance and labor markets, and compensation and pensions, with a US and an international focus. Her extensive research analyzes public and private retirement pensions as well as links between wealth, health, and retirement. Dr. Mitchell recently served on President Bush’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security. Dr. Mitchell has published extensively in the area of saving, pension, and retirement. Her coauthored study on Social Security reform won the Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security. She received a BA in Economics from Harvard University and an MS and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Projects
- UM19-03: Understanding Retirement Plan Default Behavior: The Case of OregonSaves
- UM19-12: How Would 401(k) Rothification Influence Consumption, Saving, and Social Security Claiming Behavior?
- UM17-16: Causes and Consequences of Financial Mismanagement at Older Ages
- UM16-14: Time Discounting and Economic Decisionmaking Among the Elderly
- UM16-05: Older People’s Willingness to Delay Social Security Claiming
- UM15-05: Social Security Claiming, Life Insurance, and Long-Term Care Insurance: The Impact of Narrow Framing and Loss Aversion
- UM13-Q2: Technical Review Panel for the PIMS Model
- UM13-Q3: Optimal Retirement Plan Design: Variable Annuities with Lifetime Income Guarantees and Investment Downside Protection
- UM14-02: Americans’ Willingness to Voluntarily Delay Retirement
- UM13-09: Debt and Debt Management among Older Adults
- UM13-10: Evaluating Two Technological Interventions Encouraging Retirement Saving
- UM13-12: How Family Status Influences Work and Retirement, Saving and Dissaving, Insurance Demand and Portfolio Choice over the Life Cycle
- UM12-22: Retirement in Japan and the United States: Cross-national Comparisons using the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR) and the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
- UM11-11: The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Asset Allocation, Annuity Demand, Work Effort, and Retirement Behavior over the Life Cycle
- UM11-05: Evaluating Major Reforms in the Innovator Privatization Social Security System
- UM10-10: Borrowing from Yourself: The Determinants of 401(k) Loan Patterns
- UM10-11: Financial Literacy, Short-run Impatience, and the Determinants of Savings and Financial Management
- UM09-07: 401(k) Plan Investment Efficiency: Who Are the Winners and Why?
- UM08-20: The Efficiency of Pension Plan Investment Menus: Investment Choices in Defined Contribution Pensions
- UM07-11: Investment Patterns and Trading Behavior in 401(k) Pension Accounts
- UM06-06: Trading Behavior in Personal Accounts: Lessons from 401(k) Pension Participants
- UM05-09: Planning, Financial Literacy, and Retirement Wealth
- UM05-01: Social Security Eligibility, Benefit Levels, and Replacement Rates in the HRS
- UM04-12: Self-Annuitization in Personal Accounts: Perspectives from the German Experience
- UM04-C1: How Retirement Wealth Shortfalls Change with Age
- UM04-03: Health and Annuities for the Older Population
- UM03-05: How Attractive Are Guarantees In Social Security Personal Retirement Accounts?
- UM02-C2: Representative versus Actual Lifetime Earnings Trajectories
- UM01-C1: The Influence of Lifetime Earning Variance on Retirement Wealth
- UM00-06: Applications, Denials and Appeals for Social Security Disability Insurance
- UM99-Q1: Risk Sharing Under Alternative Social Security Reform Proposals
- UM99-01: Assessing the Impact of Changes in the Early Social Security Retirement Age
Publications
- Auto-Enrollment Retirement Plans in OregonSaves (Research Brief)
- Auto-Enrollment Retirement Plans in OregonSaves (Working Paper)
- How Would 401(k) ‘Rothification’ Alter Saving, Retirement Security, and Inequality? (Research Brief)
- How Would 401(k) ‘Rothification’ Alter Saving, Retirement Security, and Inequality? (Working Paper)
- Debt and Debt Management among Older Adults (2013 RRC)
- 2019 RDRC Meeting: Auto-enrollment Retirement Plans for the People: Choices and Outcomes in OregonSaves (2019 RDRC)
- Exploring the Risks and Consequences of Elder Fraud Victimization: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study (Research Brief)
- Exploring the Risks and Consequences of Elder Fraud Victimization: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study (Working Paper)
- Older People's Willingness to Delay Social Security Claiming (Research Brief)
- Older People’s Willingness to Delay Social Security Claiming (Working Paper)
- Time Discounting and Economic Decision-making among the Elderly (Research Brief)
- Time Discounting and Economic Decision-making among the Elderly (Working Paper)
- Narrow Framing and Long-Term Care Insurance (Research Brief)
- Narrow Framing and Long-Term Care Insurance (Working Paper)
- Americans’ Willingness to Voluntarily Delay Retirement (Conference Paper)
- Narrow Framing and Long-Term Care Insurance (Conference Paper)
- Americans’ Willingness to Voluntarily Delay Retirement (Research Brief)
- Will They Take the Money and Work? An Empirical Analysis of People’s Willingness to Delay Claiming Social Security Benefits for a Lump Sum (Working Paper)
- How Family Status and Social Security Claiming Options Shape Optimal Life Cycle Portfolios (Research Brief)
- How Family Status and Social Security Claiming Options Shape Optimal Life Cycle Portfolios (Working Paper)
- Older Adult Debt and Financial Frailty (Research Brief)
- Evaluating Web-based Savings Interventions: A Preliminary Assessment (Research Brief)
- Evaluating Web-based Savings Interventions: A Preliminary Assessment (Working Paper)
- Older Adult Debt and Financial Frailty (Working Paper)
- Technical Review Panel for the Pension Insurance Modeling System (PIMS): An Overview (Research Brief)
- Technical Review Panel for the Pension Insurance Modeling System (PIMS) (Working Paper)
- Debt and Debt Management among Older Adults (Conference Paper)
- Optimal Life Cycle Portfolio Choice with Variable Annuities Offering Liquidity and Investment Downside Protection (Research Brief)
- Optimal Life Cycle Portfolio Choice with Variable Annuities Offering Liquidity and Investment Downside Protection (Working Paper)
- Retirement in Japan and the United States: Cross-national Comparisons using the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR) and the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) (Research Brief)
- Retirement in Japan and the United States: Cross-national Comparisons using the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR) and the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) (Working Paper)
- Exchanging Delayed Social Security Benefits for Lump Sums: Could This Incentivize Longer Work Careers? (Research Brief)
- Exchanging Delayed Social Security Benefits for Lump Sums: Could This Incentivize Longer Work Careers? (Working Paper)
- Integrating Flexible Work, Endogenous Retirement, and Portfolio Decision with Guaranteed Lifetime Pension Payouts (Research Brief)
- Modeling Lifetime Earnings Paths: Hypothetical versus Actual Workers (Research Brief)
- Lifecycle Impacts of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Household Optimal Consumption, Portfolio Choice, and Labor Supply (Research Brief)
- First-Round Impacts of the 2008 Chilean Pension System Reform (Research Brief)
- First-Round Impacts of the 2008 Chilean Pension System Reform (Working Paper)
- Lifecycle Impacts of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Household Optimal Consumption, Portfolio Choice, and Labor Supply (Conference Paper)
- Efficiency of Pension Plan Investment Menus: Choices in DC Pension Plans (Research Brief)
- Lifecycle Impacts of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Household Optimal Consumption, Portfolio Choice, and Labor Supply (Working Paper)
- How Financial Literacy and Impatience Shape Retirement Wealth and Investment Behaviors (Research Brief)
- How Financial Literacy and Impatience Shape Retirement Wealth and Investment Behaviors (Working Paper)
- Borrowing from Yourself: The Determinants of 401(k) Loan Patterns (Research Brief)
- Borrowing from Yourself: The Determinants of 401(k) Loan Patterns (Working Paper)
- Financial Literacy among the Young (Research Brief)
- Financial Literacy and Financial Sophistication in the Older Population: Evidence from the 2008 HRS (Research Brief)
- Efficiency of Pension Menus and Individual Portfolio Choice in 401(k) Pensions (Research Brief)
- Financial Literacy and Financial Sophistication in the Older Population: Evidence from the 2008 HRS (Working Paper)
- Financial Literacy among the Young (Working Paper)
- The Efficiency of Pension Menus and Individual Portfolio Choice in 401(k) Pensions (Working Paper)
- How Ordinary Consumers Make Complex Economic Decisions: Financial Literacy and Retirement Readiness (Conference Paper)
- Extending Life Cycle Models of Optimal Portfolio Choice: Integrating Flexible Work, Endogenous Retirement, and Investment Decisions with Lifetime Payouts (Working Paper)
- Asset Allocation and Location over the Lifecycle with Survival-Contingent Payouts (Research Brief)
- Asset Allocation and Location over the Life Cycle with Survival-Contingent Payouts (Working Paper)
- The Efficiency of Pension Plan Investment Menus: Investment Choices in Defined Contribution Pension Plans (Conference Paper)
- The Efficiency of Pension Plan Investment Menus: Investment Choices in Defined Contribution Pension Plans (Working Paper)
- How Much do People Know About Economics and Finance? Financial Illiteracy and the Importance of Financial Education (Policy Brief)
- Financial Literacy and Retirement Planning: New Evidence from the Rand American Life Panel (Working Paper)
- Winners and Losers: 401(k) Trading and Portfolio Performance (Working Paper)
- Money in Motion: Dynamic Portfolio Choice in Retirement (Working Paper)
- Financial Literacy and Retirement Preparedness: Evidence and Implications for Financial Education Programs (Working Paper)
- Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare? (Working Paper)
- Financial Literacy and Planning: Implications for Retirement Well-Being (Conference Paper)
- Optimizing the Retirement Decision: Asset Allocation, Annuitization, and Risk Aversion (Working Paper)
- Social Security Replacement Rates for Alternative Earnings Benchmarks (Working Paper)
- The Inattentive Participant: Portfolio Trading Behavior in 401(k) Plans (Working Paper)
- Baby Boomer Retirement Security: The Roles of Planning, Financial Literacy, and Housing Wealth (Working Paper)
- Financial Literacy and Planning: Implications for Retirement Wellbeing (Working Paper)
- Betting on Death and Capital Markets in Retirement: A Shortfall Risk Analysis of Life Annuities versus Phased Withdrawal Plans (Research Brief)
- Saving Shortfalls and Delayed Retirement (Research Brief)
- The Impact of Health Status and Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenditures on Annuity Valuation (Research Brief)
- Saving Shortfalls and Delayed Retirement (Working Paper)
- Saving Shortfalls and Continued Work: Some Initial Results (Conference Paper)
- The Impact of Health Status and Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenditures on Annuity Valuation (Working Paper)
- Modeling Lifetime Earnings Paths: Hypothetical versus Actual Workers (Working Paper)
- Betting on Death and Capital Markets in Retirement: A Shortfall Risk Analysis of Life Annuities versus Phased Withdrawal Plans (Working Paper)
- The Demand for Guarantees in Social Security Personal Retirement Accounts (Working Paper)
- Understanding Individual Account Guarantees (Working Paper)
- Disability, Early, and Normal Retirement (Conference Paper)
- Would a Privatized Social Security System Really Pay a Higher Rate of Return? (Conference Paper)
- Lifetime Earnings Variability and Retirement Wealth (Working Paper)
- Eligibility for Social Security Disability Insurance (Research Brief)
- Retirement Responses to Early Social Security Benefit Reductions (Working Paper)
- Personal Accounts and Social Security Reform (Research Brief)
- Applications, Denials, and Appeals for Social Security Disability Insurance (Working Paper)
- Eligibility for Social Security Disability Insurance (Working Paper)
- Eligibility for Social Security Disability Insurance (Conference Paper)
- Retirement Responses to Early Social Security Benefit Reductions (Research Brief)
Researchers by Institution
- AARP
- Abt Associates
- Arizona State University
- Australian National University
- Bocconi University
- Boston University
- Brookings Institute
- Brown University
- California State University
- Carleton University
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
- City College of New York (CUNY)
- City University of New York
- Claremont Graduate University
- Columbia University
- Concordia University-Canada
- Copenhagen Business School
- Cornell University
- Dartmouth College
- Duke University
- European Commission
- Federal Reserve Bank of Minneanapolis
- Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
- Federal Reserve Bank-Richmond
- Federal Reserve Bank-San Francisco
- Federal Reserve Board
- George Washington University
- Georgetown University
- Goethe University
- Harvard University
- HEC Montréal
- Imperial College London
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
- Ithaca College
- Johns Hopkins University
- Kyoto University
- Louisiana State University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Mathematica Policy Research
- Max Planck Institute
- Michigan State University
- National Institute on Aging
- National University of Singapore
- New School of Social Research
- New York University
- Occidental College
- Ohio State University
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Other
- Pennsylvania State University
- Princeton
- Purdue University
- RAND Corporation
- Social Security Administration
- Stanford University
- SUNY-Buffalo
- SUNY-Stony Brook
- Syracuse University
- Texas A&M University
- Texas Tech University
- The College of William & Mary
- Tilburg University
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Universidad de Chile
- University College London
- University of Alabama
- University of Arkansas
- University of Bristol
- University of California-Berkeley
- University of California-Davis
- University of California-Irvine
- University of California-Los Angeles
- University of California-San Diego
- University of Cambridge
- University of Chicago
- University of Colorado at Boulder
- University of Colorado Denver
- University of Essex
- University of Frankfort
- University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
- University of Michigan
- University of Minnesota
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability
- University of New South Wales
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Oregon
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Southern California
- University of Texas
- University of Victoria
- University of Virginia
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin – Madison
- Urban Institute
- Vanderbilt University
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Wayne State University
- Wellesley College
- Williams College
- Yale University