Thomas L. Steinmeier
Professor, Texas Tech University
Thomas L. Steinmeier is Professor of Economics at Texas Tech University. He previously taught at Dartmouth College and Oberlin College. He is a Research Economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research and for fifteen years was a member of the Steering Committee and for most of those years a co-PI of the Health and Retirement Study. For the last twenty-five years, Steinmeier’s research has focused on four central issues in labor economics and the economics of aging: retirement, pensions, Social Security and savings. Together with Alan Gustman, he has examined how retirement is defined and reasons for the wide differences in retirement behavior among individuals; has investigated incentives observed in pension plans and sharp trends in these incentives over time; has analyzed how pensions and Social Security affect savings behavior, and has considered related public policy questions pertaining to Social Security, pension regulation, and retirement income policies. Most recently, Steinmeier and Gustman have authored a series of articles using the Social Security earnings histories and employer provided pension data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine how pensions and Social Security affect wealth, saving and retirement behavior of those on the verge of retirement, to study Social Security policies, and to document the extent of and effects of imperfect knowledge of pensions and Social Security. Together with Nahid Tabatabai and Gustman, Steinmeier has a newly published book from Harvard University Press entitled “Pensions in the Health and Retirement Study”, and an article discussing the likely effects of the recent recession on the wealth of the near retirement population.
Projects
- UM16-02: The Affordable Care Act as Retiree Health Insurance: Implications for Retirement and Social Security Claiming
- UM15-07: Social Security and Pensions in Veterans’ Wealth and Retirement
- UM14-01: Distributional Effects of Means Testing Social Security: An Exploratory Analysis.
- UM13-07: The Social Security Windfall Elimination and Government Pension Offset Provisions for Public Employees in the Health and Retirement Study
- UM12-10: Mismeasurement of Pensions Before and After Retirement: The Mystery of the Disappearing Pensions with Implications for the Importance of Social Security as a Source of Retirement Support
- UM12-04: Behavioral Effects of Social Security Policies on Benefit Claiming, Retirement and Saving
- UM11-08: How Did the Recession of 2007-2009 Affect the Wealth and Retirement of the Near Retirement Age Population in the Health and Retirement Study?
- UM11-06: The Effects of Changes in Women’s Labor Market Attachment on Redistribution Under the Social Security Benefit Formula
- UM10-21: Explaining the Growth in Social Security Benefits among the Retirement Age Population
- UM10-12: Financial Knowledge And Financial Literacy At The Household Level
- UM09-09: How Do Pension Changes Affect Retirement Preparedness?
- UM08-03: How Does Modeling of Retirement Decisions at the Family Level Affect Estimates of the Impact of Social Security Policies on Retirement?
- UM06-12: Financial Risk, Retirement, Saving and Investment
- UM06-02: How Changes in Social Security Affect Retirement Trends
- UM05-02: Retirement, Saving, Benefit Claiming and Solvency Under A Partial System of Voluntary Personal Accounts
- UM05-05: Social Security and Retirement Dynamics
- UM04-01: The Social Security Retirement Earnings Test, Retirement, Benefit Claiming, and the Effects of Abolishing the Earnings Test with and without Individual Accounts.
- UM03-13: Understanding Patterns of Social Security Benefit Receipt, Pensions Incomes, Retirement and Saving By Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Marital Status: A Structured Approach
- UM03-03: How To Evaluate the Effects of Social Security Policies on Retirement and Saving When Firm Policies Affect the Opportunities Facing Older Individuals
- UM02-02: Using the Health and Retirement Study to Simulate the Effects of Voluntary and Mandatory Systems of Social Security Privatization
- UM02-06: A Structural Model of the Family that Jointly Explains Retirement and Saving Behavior, with Analyses of the Effects of Current and Proposed Social Security Policies In A Family Context
- UM01-02: An Analysis of the Impact of Varying the Social Security Early Entitlement Age and Normal Retirement Age in a Structural Model of Retirement Wealth
- UM00-08: Imperfect Knowledge, Retirement and Savings
- UM99-04: Redistribution under the Social Security Benefit Formula Based on Intermittent Work History Versus Low Wage Rates
- UM00-01: Social Security and Retirement Behavior Within the Family: Economic Estimate of a Structural Model Using HRS Employer Provided Pension Data and Social Security Earnings Records
- UM99-02: Social Security Acceptance, Pension Acceptance, Retirement Dynamics and Wealth Accumulation
Publications
- Financial Knowledge and Financial Literacy at the Household Level (2010 RRC)
- The Affordable Care Act as Retiree Health Insurance: Implications for Retirement and Social Security Claiming (Research Brief)
- The Affordable Care Act as Retiree Health Insurance: Implications for Retirement and Social Security Claiming (Working Paper)
- Declining Wealth and Work among Male Veterans in the Health and Retirement Study (Research Brief)
- Declining Wealth and Work among Male Veterans in the Health and Retirement Study (Working Paper)
- Distributional Effects of Means Testing Social Security: An Exploratory Analysis (Research Brief)
- Distributional Effects of Means Testing Social Security: An Exploratory Analysis (Working Paper)
- The Social Security Windfall Elimination and Government Pension Offset Provisions for Public Employees in the Health and Retirement Study (Working Paper)
- The Social Security Windfall Elimination and Government Pension Offset Provisions for Public Employees in the Health and Retirement Study (Research Brief)
- Mismeasurement of Pensions Before and After Retirement: The Mystery of the Disappearing Pensions with Implications for the Importance of Social Security as a Source of Retirement Support (Research Brief)
- Mismeasurement of Pensions Before and After Retirement: The Mystery of the Disappearing Pensions with Implications for the Importance of Social Security as a Source of Retirement Support (Working Paper)
- Behavioral Effects of Social Security Policies on Benefit Claiming, Retirement and Saving (Research Brief)
- Behavioral Effects of Social Security Policies on Benefit Claiming, Retirement and Saving (Conference Paper)
- Behavioral Effects of Social Security Policies on Benefit Claiming, Retirement and Saving (Working Paper)
- How Did the Recession of 2007-2009 Affect the Wealth and Retirement of the Near Retirement Age Population in the Health and Retirement Study? (Research Brief)
- How Did the Recession of 2007-2009 Affect the Wealth and Retirement of the Near Retirement Age Population in the Health and Retirement Study? (Working Paper)
- The Effects of Changes in Women’s Labor Market Attachment on Redistribution Under the Social Security Benefit Formula (Research Brief)
- The Effects of Changes in Women’s Labor Market Attachment on Redistribution Under the Social Security Benefit Formula (Working Paper)
- The Effects of Changes in Women’s Labor Market Attachment on Redistribution under the Social Security Benefit Formula (Conference Paper)
- The Growth in Social Security Benefits Among the Retirement Age Population from Increases in the Cap on Covered Earnings (Research Brief)
- The Growth in Social Security Benefits Among the Retirement Age Population from Increases in the Cap on Covered Earnings (Working Paper)
- Financial Knowledge and Financial Literacy at the Household Level (Research Brief)
- Financial Knowledge and Financial Literacy at the Household Level (Working Paper)
- How Do Pension Changes Affect Retirement Preparedness? The Trend to Defined-Contribution Plans and the Stock Market Decline of 2008-2009 (Research Brief)
- How Do Pension Changes Affect Retirement Preparedness? The Trend to Defined Contribution Plans and the Vulnerability of the Retirement Age Population to the Stock Market Decline of 2008-2009 (Conference Paper)
- How Do Pension Changes Affect Retirement Preparedness? The Trend to Defined Contribution Plans and the Vulnerability of the Retirement Age Population to the Stock Market Decline of 2008-2009 (Working Paper)
- Modelling Family Retirement Decisions: Impact on Policy Estimates (Research Brief)
- How Does Modeling of Retirement Decisions at the Family Level Affect Estimates of the Impact of Social Security Policies on Retirement? (Working Paper)
- Projecting Behavioral Responses to the Next Generation of Retirement Policies (Working Paper)
- Financial Risk, Retirement, Saving and Investment (Working Paper)
- How Changes in Social Security Affect Retirement Trends (Working Paper)
- Retirement, Saving, Benefit Claiming and Solvency Under a Partial System of Voluntary Personal Accounts (Conference Paper)
- Social Security and Retirement Dynamics (Working Paper)
- The Social Security Retirement Earnings Test, Retirement and Benefit Claiming (Research Brief)
- Retirement, Saving, Benefit Claiming and Solvency Under A Partial System of Voluntary Personal Accounts (Working Paper)
- The Social Security Retirement Earnings Test, Retirement and Benefit Claiming (Working Paper)
- Understanding Patterns of Social Security Benefit Receipt, Pensions Incomes, Retirement and Saving by Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Marital Status: A Structural Approach (Working Paper)
- How to Evaluate the Effects of Social Security Policies on Retirement and Saving When Firm Policies Affect the Opportunities Facing Older Individuals (Working Paper)
- Personal Accounts and Family Retirement (Working Paper)
- Retirement Effects of Proposals by the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security (Working Paper)
- The New Social Security Commission Personal Accounts: Where is the Investment Principal? (Working Paper)
- The Social Security Early Entitlement Age in a Structural Model of Retirement and Wealth (Working Paper)
- How Effective is Redistribution Under the Social Security Benefit Formula? (Working Paper)
- Retirement Effects of Social Security Reform (Conference Paper)
- Retirement and Wealth (Working Paper)
- Retirement and Wealth (Research Brief)
- The New Social Security Commission Personal Accounts: Where is the Investment Principal? (Research Brief)
- The Social Security Early Entitlement Age in a Structural Model of Retirement and Wealth (Research Brief)
- Imperfect Knowledge, Retirement and Saving (Research Brief)
- Imperfect Knowledge, Retirement and Saving (Working Paper)
- Social Security, Pensions and Retirement Behavior Within the Family (Working Paper)
- How Effective Is Redistribution Under The Social Security Benefit Formula? (Research Brief)
- Imperfect Knowledge, Retirement, and Saving (Conference Paper)
- Retirement and Wealth (Conference Paper)
- How Effective Is Redistribution Under The Social Security Benefit Formula? (Conference Paper)
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