Sweden’s new multi-pillar pension system includes a system of mandatory fully-funded individual accounts. The Swedish system tries to keep administrative costs down through centralized management of the collection of contributions, switching among fund options, and record-keeping and...

Most analyses of Social Security reforms ignore interactions with the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. We explicitly consider such interactions using a microsimulation model. The basic reform we examine reduces Social Security benefits by the percentage required to approach 75-year...

Between 1990 and 2000, total sales of variable annuities in the U.S. grew from just over $5 billion to nearly $140 billion. These products now account for approximately half of all private market annuity sales. Variable annuities resemble mutual funds, but they qualify for special tax treatment...

Assets in retirement saving plans have become an important component of net worth for many households. While many studies compare household balances in tax-deferred retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans with the financial assets held outside these accounts, these different asset components...

This paper provides new evidence on the adequacy of household retirement saving. We depart from much previous research on the adequacy of saving in two key ways. First, our underlying simulation model of optimal wealth accumulation allows for precautionary saving against uncertain future...

Using the first estimable dynamic programming model of retirement behavior that accounts for both savings and uncertain medical expenses, we assess the importance of employer-provided health insurance and Medicare in determining retirement behavior. Including both of these features allows us to...

This article examines the change in the mix of income and benefits that older adults receive as they age, with a focus on older women. The study is a cross-national comparison of five OECD countries using the Luxemburg Income Study database. We investigate the change of private income and social...

Social Security retirement benefits have been noted for their capacity to redistribute benefits from higher to lower lifetime earners. However, two-thirds of older women receive spouse and widow benefits and the distributional impact of those benefits has not been well studied. Spouse and widow...

Declines in health and financial resources lead many older Americans to turn to coresidence and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program for support. A growing literature examines coresidence choices and SSI participation, stressing the importance of each for vulnerable aged persons....

The financial crisis reduced the value of equities in state and local defined benefit pensions and hurt the funding status of these plans. The impact will become evident only over time, however, because actuaries in the public sector tend to smooth both gains and losses, typically over a...