We study demand for advice within defined contribution retirement plans offered by 23 institutions where TIAA is sole recordkeeper. Advice seeking increases with age, account balance, annual contribution level, web access, and changes in marital status. More provocatively, participants who...

This paper evaluates a new variant of the popular target date funds used in employer-based retirement savings plans. We call this new variant a "target retirement plan." Instead of increasing the allocation to bond funds as retirement approaches, a target retirement fund gradually purchases...

Recordkeepers in DC pension plans are often paid indirectly in the form of revenue sharing from third-party funds on the menu. We show that these arrangements affect the investment menu of 401(k) plans. Revenue-sharing funds are more likely to be added to the menu and are less likely to be...

We conduct a randomized controlled trial to understand how a web-based retirement saving calculator affects workers' retirement-savings decisions. In both conditions, the calculator projects workers' retirement income goal. In the treatment condition, it also projects retirement income based on...

This paper investigates the effect of state retirement plan mandates on the supply of employer-sponsored retirement plans (ESRPs) by firms. These policies require employers to either (1) offer ESRPs to workers or (2) facilitate automatic payroll deductions that are deposited into individual...

Several states have recently attempted to boost retirement saving by adopting "auto-IRA" policies that require employers not currently offering an employer-sponsored retirement plan (ESRP) to either (1) establish an ESRP or (2) enroll employees in state-facilitated Individual Retirement Accounts...

Medium- and long-run dynamics undermine the effect of automatic enrollment and default savings-rate auto-escalation on retirement savings. Our analysis of nine 401(k) plans incorporates the facts that employees frequently leave firms (often before matching contributions from their employer have...

Am 19. Oktober 2004 stellten die sechs Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitute in Berlin ihr Herbstgutachten der Presse vor. Sie kamen zu der Ansicht, dass der Aufschwung in der Weltwirtschaft zwar anhält, allerdings seit dem Frühjahr 2004 etwas an Fahrt verliert. Die Abschwächung erklärt sich zum...

Am 23. April 2002 stellten die sechs Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitute in Berlin ihr Frühjahrsgutachten der Presse vor. Sie kommen zu der Ansicht, dass die Weltwirtschaft vor einem Aufschwung steht. In den USA hat sich die Konjunktur sogar früher als von den Instituten erwartet belebt. In...

Die Wirtschaft der USA und der übrigen Welt wurde von den Anschlägen vom 11. September in einer Phase ausgeprägter konjunktureller Schwäche getroffen. Unter der Voraussetzung, dass es nicht zu weiteren massiven Terroranschlägen, einer Ausweitung des Konflikts sowie einer Beeinträchtigung...