UM07-01: Experimental Analysis of Delayed Social Security Claiming
This project aims to design, field, and analyze the results of a survey instrument that will increase our understanding of Social Security claiming behavior and will provide information about how the perceived rewards from delayed claiming might be altered. Results…
UM07-02: A Longitudinal Analysis of Entry of the Low-Income Elderly into the Supplemental Security Income Program
Participation in SSI provides a basic financial safety net for the low-income elderly. Nonparticipation has the most profound economic and policy implications for the persistently SSI-eligible. We study this issue using a dynamic approach, extending work by Powers with Elder…
UM07-03: A Model of Unretirement
I propose to integrate my previous MRRC research on unretirement, partial retirement, and the labor market for older workers in a new, unified model of retirement. The model generates anticipated unretirement (and partial retirement) transitions through a 'burnout/recovery' function, generates…
UM07-04: Managing the Risk of Life
People’s income in old age depends importantly on complicated financial decisions, such as the annuitization of personal accounts. The standard economic framework of the Yaari model assumes that agents are risk neutral with respect to the length of life. This…
UM07-05: Are 40l(k) Saving Rates Changing? Cohort/Period Evidence from the HRS
This research will examine the determinants of participation in 401(k) plans and the rate of saving among participants, using two cross-sections of data from the Health and Retirement Study on workers ages 51-56 representing two cohorts: the original HRS cohort…
UM07-06: Extra Help: Take-up of the Social Security Administration’s Low-Income Subsidy Program for Part D of Medicare in 2006.
This project will examine take-up rates for Social Security’s low-income subsidy program for the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. It appears that take-up will be well below potential eligibility. An economic model can be used to identify factors…
UM07-07: Adequacy of Economic Resources in Retirement and Returns-to-scale in Consumption
Most assessments of the adequacy of retirement resources are expressed as a comparison of pre-retirement income to post-retirement income. Yet, among couples a substantial fraction of retirement years is spent by the surviving spouse living alone. To the extent that…
UM07-08: Estimating the Health Effects of Changes in Retirement Age
We propose to estimate the magnitude of any direct effect of retirement on health. Since retirement is endogenous to health, it is not possible to estimate this effect by comparing the health of individuals before and after they retire. As…
UM07-09: How do Immigrants Fare in Retirement?
Immigrants may enter retirement at a significant financial disadvantage. Under current Social Security rules, immigrants are likely to receive lower benefits than US born workers. In this project we will examine how immigrants fare under Social Security and how other…
UM07-10: Planning and Financial Literacy Among US Households: New Evidence from the Rand Internet Panel
To gain insights into how workers make saving and investment decisions, Lusardi and Mitchell helped develop a new module on planning and financial literacy for the 2004 Health and Retirement Study. Their findings are striking: financial illiteracy is widespread among…