We use a unique dataset on individual retirement decisions in Swiss pension funds to analyze the choice between an … annuity and a lump sum at retirement. Our analysis suggests the existence of an “acquiescence bias”, meaning that a majority … accumulated pension capital are much more likely to be withdrawn as a lump sum, suggesting a potential moral hazard behavior or a …

-tested payments creates an incentive to cash out (occupational) pension wealth for low and middle income earners, instead of taking … the annuity. Agents trade-off the advantages from annuitization, receiving the wealth-enhancing mortality credit, to the …’s predicted annuitization rates as a function of the level of pension wealth are roughly consistent with the cash-out patterns of …

This article, based on two books (2008, forthcoming), sets out principles for pension design: pension systems have … multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be in a second-best context … implications: there is no single best pension design; earlier retirement does not reduce unemployment; unsustainable pension …

Redistribution is an inevitable feature of collective pension schemes. Nevertheless, it is still an open question what … regarding redistribution and asks what this evidence tells us about preferences for redistribution through pension schemes. We …

Pension benefit rules depend on individual history far more than taxes do, and age plays a much larger role in pension … contain neither a mandatory pension system nor the behavioral dimensions that lie behind justifications commonly offered for … mandatory pensions. Conversely, optimizing models of pension design typically do not include annual taxation of labor and …

By using their financial reserves efficiently, pension funds can smooth shocks on asset returns, and can thus … collective pension plan in terms of portfolio management, capital payments to retirees, and dividend payments to shareholders. We …

policy consists in full deferral of income taxes on savings and a full taxation of interest. Mobility of the old calls for … savings in combination with full tax exemption on capital income. …