An increasing number of individuals will be unable to retire comfortably amidst an international retirement savings crisis. Research suggests that behavioral factors contribute to inadequate retirement savings. We present a procedure that reframes the retirement savings decision, aimed at alleviating some of the negative effects of the behavioral…

Rising costs of public employee pension plans are a source of fiscal stress in many cities and states and have led to calls for reform. To assess the economic consequences of plan changes it is important to have reliable statistical models of employee retirement behavior. The authors estimate a structural model of teacher retirement using…

Why aren't teacher salaries rising? This puzzle can be explained by three trends eating into teachers' take-home pay: rising health care costs, declining student/teacher ratios, and rising retirement costs. Retirement costs are the most hidden of these three factors. The result is that most teachers are getting the worst of both worlds. Teachers…

We use data from workers in the largest public-sector occupation in the United States -- teaching -- to examine the effect of pension enhancements on employee retention. Specifically, we study a 1999 enhancement to the benefit formula for public school teachers in St. Louis that resulted in an immediate and dramatic increase in their incentives to…

In this paper, we present an analysis of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System (ATRS) pension plan and an empirical investigation of the behavioral response to that plan, as well as to a possible reform plan. We begin by describing the plan parameters and discussing the incentives these parameters create. We then estimate the effect of pension…

This paper exploits a major, unanticipated reform of the California teachers' pension to provide quasi-experimental evidence on the link between pension generosity and retirement timing. Using two large administrative datasets, the author conducts a reduced-form analysis of the pension reform and estimates a structural model of retirement timing.…

This research examined the influence of delay and anticipated health and enjoyment on the amount of retirement savings sacrificed for early retirement. In addition to testing and supporting predictions that willingness to sacrifice retirement savings would be less with shorter delays to retirement, greater anticipated health, and greater…

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)

As inflation becomes more severe, additional employers will be considering granting postretirement benefit increases. The decision-making model described here offers a conceptual frame of reference for determining whether an employer needs to grant such an increase, as well as the most appropriate method for implementing it. (CT)

Policy discussions about teacher quality and teacher "shortages" often focus on recruitment and retention of young teachers. However, attention has begun to focus on the incentive effects of teacher retirement benefit systems, particularly given their rising costs and the large unfunded liabilities. In this paper we analyze accrual of…

A life cycle perspective is used in this study to develop and test a model suggesting that events occuring early in the worker's life, and often beyond his control (e.g., choice of parents), influence the control over labor force withdrawal and the retirement incomes of very early retirees. (CT)

Politicians are increasingly pressuring school districts to improve instruction while holding down costs. To achieve this aim, western New York school districts are experimenting with mutual gains bargaining, an alternative negotiation process based on Roger Fisher and William Ury's 1991 book "Getting to Yes." Instead of bargaining from…

Although education level reveals nothing directly about an individual's productivity, there is a positive relation between productivity (ability) and chosen education level. This paper describes a study that shows a positive private and social return to educational screening. Firms' use of contingency contracts can be either efficient or…

The Minister of Education of Alberta, Canada established a task force in 1983 to analyze the characteristics of teachers' pension plans and to develop a model retirement plan for teachers in Alberta. The task force reviewed the legislative, structural, administrative, and financial characteristics of Alberta's existing Teachers' Retirement Fund as…

The Minister of Education of Alberta, Canada established a task force in 1983 to analyze the characteristics of teachers' pension plans and to develop a model retirement plan for teachers in Alberta. The task force reviewed the legislative, structural, administrative, and financial characteristics of Alberta's existing Teachers' Retirement Fund as…