Current debate on the Social Security Administrations long-term finance of benefits includes proposals for independent private investment via individual accounts. The author first investigates what implications disability might have for equity savings account balances. In light of results,...

The link between unemployment and pension accumulations is conceptually straightforward; periods of unemployment lead to lower pension contributions, and thus to lower accumulations. However, impacts on accumulation may differ as a result of the timing and frequency of unemployment spells. We...

Recently, the federal government began redirecting health care tax subsidies towards tax–exempt Health Savings Accounts (HSA). This tax program requires selection of high–deductible policies—shifting government tax subsidies away from the premium (pure insurance) component and towards the...

This paper investigates the impact of household exposure to employer pension plan features using the Health and Retirement Survey. We investigate whether exposure to active management (choice) or participation in plan-sponsored financial education seminars impacts household portfolio allocations...

In 2011 and 2012, the Federal Reserve sold Treasury securities from the short end of the yield curve at the same time it was providing market participants with date-specific assurances that overnight interest rates would not rise. We investigate how these two policies, which had conflicting...

Several programs have been introduced by U.S. fiscal and monetary authorities in response to the financial crisis. We examine the responses involving Treasury debt—the Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), the Supplemental Financing Program, increases in Treasury issuance, and open market...

The United States introduced several programs in response to the financial crisis. We examine responses involving Treasury debt—the Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), Supplementary Financing Program (SFP), Treasury issuance, open-market operations—and associated impacts on...

Several popular and academic pieces of late have expressed concerns regarding the sustainability of public defined benefit pension funds. Since the onset of the Great Recession, concern has increased. In this paper recent arguments are analyzed in the context of three related data sets: panel...