UM08-11: Adequacy of Economic Resources in Retirement: Model-Based Estimations
The most common metric for assessing the adequacy of economic preparation for retirement is the income replacement rate, the ratio of income after retirement to income before retirement. However both economic theory and common sense say that someone is adequately…
UM08-12: Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior Across the Life-Cycle
We examine financial literacy using data resulting from a set of questions included in the most recent wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. These questions were previously asked of older adults in a financial literacy module in the…
UM08-13: Labor Supply Effects of the Interaction Between Social Security Disability and Retirement Benefits
The Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program imposes strong work restrictions on beneficiaries; however, the causal effect of the work disincentives on labor supply has been difficult to estimate. We take a new look at this question by exploiting the…
UM08-14: Labor Market and Immigration Behavior of Middle-Aged and Elderly Mexicans
In this study we analyzed the retirement behavior of Mexicans with migration spells to the United States that returned to Mexico and non-migrants. Our analysis is based on rich panel data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS). Approximately…
UM08-15: How Do Low-Income Families Think about Retirement?
How do low-income households think about retirement? Do they think about retirement? If so, when do they think they will retire, and what is it they plan to live on? In this paper, we present evidence on these questions based…
UM08-16: Pension Reform in Mexico: The Effect of Personal Retirement Accounts on Preparation for Retirement
In 1997 Mexico introduced Personal Retirement Accounts (PRAs) which, after a transition phase, will completely replace the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system. We give a detailed overview of the relevant institutional framework, the market of PRA providers and how it has evolved…
UM08-17: The Impact of Fatness on Disability Insurance Application by the Non-Elderly
This paper compares a variety of measures of fatness (e.g. BMI, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, percent body fat) in terms of their ability to predict application for Social Security Disability Insurance (DI). This is possible through a recent linkage of…
UM08-18: Retirement Wealth Across Cohorts: The Role of Earnings Inequality and Pension Changes
Changes in labor markets over the past 30 years suggest upcoming changes in the distribution of wealth at retirement. Baby boom cohorts have spent the majority of their prime earnings years in a labor market with increased earnings inequality. This…
UM08-19: The Optimal Design of Social Security
The United States Social Security system is fairly unique in that it explicitly allows for a progressive formulation of retirement benefits by assigning a larger replacement rate to workers with small pre-retirement wages. In contrast, the public pension systems in…
UM08-20: The Efficiency of Pension Plan Investment Menus: Investment Choices in Defined Contribution Pensions
Few previous studies have explored whether defined contribution retirement saving plans offer sufficiently diversified investment menus, though it is likely that these menus significantly shape workers’ accumulations of retirement wealth. This paper assesses the efficiency and performance of 401(k) investment…