2006
Financial Risk, Retirement, Saving and Investment
WP 2006-130 , UM06-12
This paper considers the prospects for adding choice of portfolio composition to a life cycle model of retirement and saving, while preserving the ability of the model to continue to explain the course of saving and retirement. If eventually successful,…
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Men With Health Insurance and the Women Who Love Them: the Effect of a Husband’s Retirement on His Wife’s Health Insurance Coverage
WP 2006-131 , UM06-15
Health insurance coverage in the years prior to retirement is particularly important because it protects the household from the financial risks of uninsurance as well as the health consequences of delaying care while uninsured. While results from the retirement “job…
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Understanding Trading Behavior in 401(k) Plans
WP 2006-125 , UM05-S2
We use a new database covering 1.2 million active participants to study trading activities in 1,530 defined contribution retirement plans. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis indicate some interesting trading patterns. First, we show that trading activity in 401(k) accounts is…
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Alternative Measures of Replacement Rates
WP 2006-132 , UM06-03
This study finds that on average those just past the usual retirement age are adequately prepared for retirement in that they will be able to follow a path of consumption that begins at their current level of consumption and then…
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Discouraged Workers? Job Search Outcomes of Older Workers
WP 2006-133 , UM06-21
Many have suggested we adopt policies that explicitly encourage the elderly to work. Behind this suggestion is the assumption that if an older person desires a job, one will be found; however, little is known about the extent to which…
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A Dynamic Model of Retirement and Social Security Reform Expectations: A Solution to the New Early Retirement Puzzle
WP 2006-134 , UM06-17
The need for Social Security Reform in the next years is hardly a matter of debate. Therefore, the widespread believe among Americans that Social Security will not be able to pay benefits in the long run at the level that…
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How Did the Elimination of the Earnings Test Above the Normal Retirement Age Affect Retirement Expectations?
WP 2006-135 , UM06-13
This study examines the effect of the 2000 repeal of the earnings test above the normal retirement age on retirement expectations of workers aged 51 to 61 – their probabilities to work past age 62 and 65 as well as…
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Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?
WP 2006-136 , UM06-05
Many older US households have done little or no planning for retirement, and there is a substantial population that seems to undersave for retirement. Of particular concern is the relative position of older women, who are more vulnerable to old-age…
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The Impact of Health Insurance Availability on Retirement Decision Reversals
WP 2006-137 , UM05-S4
This paper uses the longitudinal aspect of the Health and Retirement Survey to explore the characteristics associated with reversals in retirement (referred to here as “unretirement”). Through the use of survival time analysis, this paper show that health insurance plays…
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Social Security Privatization with Income-Mortality Correlation
WP 2006-140 , UM06-07
While privatizing Social Security can improve labor supply incentives, it can also reduce risk sharing. We simulate a 50-percent privatization using an overlapping-generations model where heterogeneous agents with elastic labor supply face idiosyncratic earnings shocks and longevity uncertainty. When wage…
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