Aging populations in developing countries have spurred the introduction of public pension programs to preserve the standard of living for the elderly. The often-overlooked mechanism of intergenerational transfers, however, can dampen these intended policy effects, as adult children who make...

This paper examines the impact of participants' age distribution on the asset allocation of Dutch pension funds, using a unique data set of pension fund investment plans for 2007. Theory predicts a negative effect of age on (strategic) equity exposures. We observe that pension funds do indeed...

Economists have mainly focused on human capital accumulation and considerably less on the causes and consequences of human capital depreciation in late adulthood. Studying human capital depreciation over the life cycle has powerful economic consequences for decision-making in old age. Using data...

The Post-9/11 GI Bill allows service members to transfer generous education benefits to a dependent. We run a large-scale experiment to test whether active choice framing impacts US Army service members' decision to transfer benefits. Individuals who received email messages framing GI Bill use...

Analyzing 30 OECD-countries between 1980-2010, this paper estimates the effect of an aging electorate on public expenditure on old age. The main outcome is that an increase in the age of the median voter is not significantly associated with more generous pensions. The second result is that an...

Analyzing 30 OECD‐countries in 1980‐2005, this paper documents the effect of an aging electorate on retirement spending. The first outcome is that an increase in the age of the median voter is not significantly associated with an increase in retirement spending relative to GDP. The second...