We examine the effects of a 2012 regulatory reform that mandated fee and performance disclosures for the investment options in 401(k) plans. We show that participants became significantly more attentive to expense ratios and short-term performance after the reform. The disclosure effects are...

One of the most important consequences of the Chilean pension reform undertaken in the early 1980s was to transfer a significant portion of the risk associated to the financing of pensions, from the State, to the pension fund participants of the newly established compulsory pension system. This...

Advanced countries worry about the future of their pay-as-you go pension schemes and try to introduce supplementary sources for revenue following employment termination. It is thus useful to understand how the pension schemes influence households behavior regarding saving and accumulation of...

The study examines the impact of financial investment on the individual’s confidence in happy retirement life using data from 735 respondents in the Bank Consortium Holding Limited (BCT) Public Opinion Survey on Retirement Happiness in 2017. The result shows that holding the investment...

We characterize the optimal default fund in a defined contribution (DC) pension plan. Using detailed data on individuals' holdings inside and outside the pension system, we find substantial heterogeneity within and between passive and active investors in terms of labor income, financial wealth,...

This discussion paper reviews the needs of Australian retirees for financial products and services especially annuity products and financial advice; how they are currently met in Australia; briefly evaluate some alternatives; and identify obstacles to greater annuitisation. These obstacles include...

We investigate the influence of investment regulations on the riskiness and procyclicality of defined-benefit (DB) pension funds' asset allocations. We provide a global comparison of the regulatory framework for public, corporate and industry pension funds in the US, Canada and the Netherlands....

In defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, the regulator usually imposes asset allocation constraints (minimum and maximum limits by asset class) in order to create funds with different risk-return profiles. In this article we challenge this approach and show that such funds exhibit erratic...

In 1980 Chile switched from a state-managed defined-benefit pension system to a defined-contribution scheme based on individual capital accounts. The new system was further refined in 2002 with the introduction of five investment funds, with, allegedly, different risk-return profiles. The funds...

We investigate the puzzle of choices of dominated personal pension instruments in Italy, with insurers' products (PIPs) much more subscribed than shares of open pension funds offered by banks (FPAs). We find evidence, using the three waves of Bank of Italy's Survey of Household Income and Wealth...