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Can Information Change Personal Retirement Savings? Evidence from Social Security Benefits Statement Mailings

Author

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  • Susan Payne Carter
  • William Skimmyhorn

Abstract

Despite concern about the viability of public retirement programs and potential undersaving for retirement, we still know little about the impact of government provided information on individual behavior. We exploit plausibly exogenous variation in exposure to the world's largest personalized retirement benefits statement from the US Social Security Administration to evaluate the effects of information and encouragement on individual retirement savings decisions. Using three natural experiments between 2011 and 2014 and administrative data, we find no impact of the statements on individual retirement savings in their employer provided retirement accounts.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan Payne Carter & William Skimmyhorn, 2018. "Can Information Change Personal Retirement Savings? Evidence from Social Security Benefits Statement Mailings," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 93-97, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:108:y:2018:p:93-97
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20181041
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Olckers, Matthew, 2021. "On track for retirement?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 76-88.
    2. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & Erdal Tekin, 2020. "Post-9/11 War Deployments Increased Crime among Veterans," NBER Working Papers 27279, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Andor, Mark A. & Gerster, Andreas & Peters, Jörg, 2022. "Information campaigns for residential energy conservation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Castleman, Benjamin L. & Patterson, Richard & Skimmyhorn, William, 2020. "Benefits left on the table: Evidence from the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Rob Bauer & Inka Eberhardt & Paul Smeets, 2022. "A Fistful of Dollars: Financial Incentives, Peer Information, and Retirement Savings," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(6), pages 2981-3020.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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