We study the effect of incorporating heterogeneity into default rules by examining the choice between retirement plans at a firm that transitioned from a defined benefit (DB) to a defined contribution (DC) plan. The default plan for existing employees varied discontinuously depending on their age. Employing regression discontinuity techniques,…

Economists have long suggested that higher private pension benefits "crowd out" other sources of household wealth accumulation. We exploit detailed information on pensions and lifetime earnings for older workers in the 1992 wave of the Health and Retirement Study and employ an instrumental-variable (IV) identification strategy to estimate…

Using Spanish Social Security records, we document the channels through which mothers fall onto a lower earnings track, such as shifting into part- time work, accumulating lower experience, or transitioning to lower-paying jobs, and are able to explain 71 percent of the unconditional individual fixed- effects motherhood wage gap. The earnings…

After a long decline, the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of older men in the United States leveled off in the 1980s, and began to increase in the late 1990s. We examine how changes in Social Security rules affected these trends. We attribute only a small portion of the decline from the 1960s-80s to the increasing generosity of Social…

This article examines the personal savings rates required to provide an average worker with adequate retirement funds. The influence of (1) various definitions of adequacy, (2) inflation, and (3) economic growth on the magnitude of the retirement preparation task are examined. With this perspective, the current roles played by the social security…

In this paper the authors examine how the structures of earnings, Social Security, and pension benefits affect retirement behavior. They use an intertemporal model of labor supply, paying special attention to the institutional features of private pensions and Social Security benefits. (Author/SSH)

The study applies a pension acceptance model to acceptance of an early retirement pension bonus. Probabilities of acceptance range from .18 to .33. It also simulates acceptance behavior without the bonus, with probabilities of acceptance ranging from .11 to .30. (Author/CH)

Analysis of a longitudinal file of collectively bargained pension plans found dramatic increases in benefit levels; reductions in early, normal, and deferred retirement ages; and declines in age at which pension values peak. Findings indicate that employer-provided pensions can and will play an important role in inducing people to remain on their…

A comparative analysis of defined benefit pension plans that were more common before 1980s and the defined contribution plans is presented. It is observed that defined benefit pension plans offered age related incentives thereby encouraging people to retire earlier. In contrast, defined contribution plans encourage people to continue with jobs…

This study found that compensating differentials exist in final salary and initial pension benefits, that large pension plans and collectively bargained plans provide larger postretirement benefit increases, and that benefit increases are larger in percentage terms for those who have been retired the longest and for those with the most years of…

Reports the results of testing a microeconomic model of the effects of fringe benefits on labor mobility. Results indicate that the probability of worker mobility drops 20 percent when a pension promise is made to male workers. Females' response is somewhat less. Other fringes affect turnover less strongly. (CT)

According to data from the Newly Entitled Beneficiary Survey and the 1979 and 1988 Current Population Survey, much of the gender gap in pensions is caused by gender differences in such labor market characteristics as experience, tenure, and income. Children and marriage have a negative effect on females' pensions, although not for more recent…

Social Security program has over the period become unsustainable from tax finance and imply reforms that would cut down on benefits of the elderly. The implications are that elderly may have to increase their post-retirement working, reduce consumption and opt for shared living rather than independent living conditions. The last of the three…

Analyses of data from the March 1975 Current Population Survey reveal that Supplemental Security Income participation probabilities are positively related to the level of available benefits. Other factors such as limited information, stigma, and the bureaucratic complexities of the enrollment process appear to be significant barriers to…

The changes in living arrangements of elderly South African women when they become eligible for pension is documented in detail. Once a woman becomes pension-eligible, the number of co-resident women in their 30s are reduced and children below 5 years increase. The elderly woman assumes a caretaker role for her grandchildren in return for support…