Behavioral economics perspectives on public sector pension plans
By: John Beshears ... [et al.].
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 16728; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 16728.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Description: "The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this.  You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email.  We describe the pension plan features of the states and the largest cities and counties in the U.S.  Unlike in the private sector, defined benefit (DB) pensions are still the norm in the public sector.  However, a few jurisdictions have shifted towards defined contribution (DC) plans as their primary savings plan, and fiscal pressures are likely to generate more movement in this direction.  Holding fixed a public employee's work and salary history, we show that DB retirement income replacement ratios vary greatly across jurisdictions.  This creates large variation in workers' need to save for retirement in other accounts.  There is also substantial heterogeneity across jurisdictions in the savings generated in primary DC plans because of differences in the level of mandatory employer and employee contributions.  One notable difference between public and private sector DC plans is that public sector primary DC plans are characterized by required employee or employer contributions (or both), whereas private sector plans largely feature voluntary employee contributions that are supplemented by an employer match.  We conclude by applying lessons from savings behavior in private sector savings plans to the design of public sector plans"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 4/28/2011.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print.

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Mode of access: World Wide Web.