Using micro data on Japanese households, I provide an overview of the level of financial literacy in Japan, analyze the determinants of financial literacy and link financial literacy to retirement planning. Overall, the level of financial literacy is low in Japan. Surprisingly, many Japanese...

In a series of experiments conducted in Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), France and the Netherlands, we compare behavior regarding tax evasion and welfare dodging, with and without information about others' behavior. Subjects have to decide between a ‘registered' income, the realization of...

We estimate the crowding-out effect of the Danish mandatory labour market pension reforms begun in 1993 on the level of total household savings for renters. The effect is identified via a large panel of individual administrative records utilising the differences in speed, timing and sectoral...

We explore the implications of alternative methods of discounting future pension outlays for the valuation of funded pension liabilities. Measured liabilities affect the asset-liability ratio of pension funds and, thereby, their policies. Our framework for analysis is an applied many-generation...

This paper explores the introduction of collective risk-sharing elements in defined contribution pension contracts. We consider status-contingent, age-contingent and asset contingent risk-sharing arrangements. All arrangements raise aggregate welfare, as measured by equivalent variations. While...

Using a model of a two-pillar pension system, designed after and calibrated to the Dutch situation, we explore for the funding ratio of pension funds and the welfare of individuals the implications of replacing nominal debt in the pension fund's portfolio with indexed debt. We consider...

We use a confirmatory factor analysis to study the relation between the importance of a broad spectrum of saving motives, such as saving for retirement, and saving behavior. Survey data show that many respondents save for retirement in unconventional retirement accounts, such as investments in...

There is ample empirical evidence documenting widespread financial illiteracy and limited pension knowledge. At the same time, the distribution of wealth is widely dispersed and many workers arrive on the verge of retirement with few or no personal assets. In this paper, we investigate the...

There is a common perception that households are under-saving for retirement - indeed this has motivated many recent policy reforms in the UK. In this paper we use a structural model, specified to closely match the UK policy environment, to investigate this ‘fact' for the cohort born in the...

This paper provides new evidence on individual preferences over annuities and lump sum payments based on hypothetical questions posed in the DNB Household Survey in 2005. Contrary to the majority of papers in the annuitization puzzle literature, this study allows to control explicitly for the...