-cost intervention that substantially simplifies the retirement savings plan participation decision. Individuals received an opportunity … to enroll in a retirement savings plan at a pre-selected contribution rate and asset allocation, allowing them to … increase contribution rates among employees who are already participating in a savings plan …

private sector, defined benefit (DB) pensions are still the norm in the public sector. However, a few jurisdictions have … shifted towards defined contribution (DC) plans as their primary savings plan, and fiscal pressures are likely to generate … retirement in other accounts. There is also substantial heterogeneity across jurisdictions in the savings generated in primary DC …

This paper summarizes the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement savings outcomes. After outlining the … defaults impact retirement savings outcomes at all stages of the savings lifecycle, including savings plan participation …, savings rates, asset allocation, and post-retirement savings distributions. The paper then discusses why defaults have such a …

We assess the impact on savings behavior of several different 401(k) plan features, including automatic enrollment … education. We also present new survey evidence on individual savings adequacy. Many of our conclusions are based on an analysis … of micro-level administrative data on the 401(k) savings behavior of employees in several large corporations that …

on savings. Low-saving employees received simplified plan enrollment or contribution increase forms. A randomized subset …>decreased</i> the savings of non-participants who were ineligible for 401(k) automatic enrollment, and higher observed peer savings … rates also decreased savings. Discouragement from upward social comparisons seems to drive this reaction …

created when the U.S. Army began automatically enrolling newly hired civilian employees into the Thrift Savings Plan. Four …

savings during their working years. For every $1 that flows into 401(k)s and similar accounts, between 30¢ and 40¢ leaks out … with helping households accumulate liquid savings that can be deployed when urgent pre-retirement needs arise …. Automatically enrolling workers into an employer-sponsored "rainy-day" or "emergency" savings account--terms that we use …

Bernanke (2005) hypothesized that a "global savings glut" was causing large trade imbalances. However, we show that the … global savings rates did not show a robust upward trend during the relevant period. Moreover, if there had been a global … savings glut there should have been a large investment boom in the countries that imported capital. Instead, those countries …

fraction that enroll by 28 percentage points relative to a standard opt-in enrollment procedure, producing a savings … strong propensity to procrastinate and savings preferences that are highly heterogeneous. Naive beliefs about future time …

We assess the impact of 401(k) plan design on four different 401(k) savings outcomes: participation in the 401(k) plan … have an important effect on all of these savings outcomes. This suggests an important role for both employers in …