IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/23073.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Optimal Social Security Claiming Behavior under Lump Sum Incentives: Theory and Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Raimond Maurer
  • Olivia S. Mitchell
  • Ralph Rogalla
  • Tatjana Schimetschek

Abstract

People who delay claiming Social Security receive higher lifelong benefits upon retirement. We survey individuals on their willingness to delay claiming later, if they could receive a lump sum in lieu of a higher annuity payment. Using a moment-matching approach, we calibrate a lifecycle model tracking observed claiming patterns under current rules and predict optimal claiming outcomes under the lump sum approach. Our model correctly predicts that early claimers under current rules would delay claiming most when offered actuarially fair lump sums, and for lump sums worth 87% as much, claiming ages would still be higher than at present.

Suggested Citation

  • Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell & Ralph Rogalla & Tatjana Schimetschek, 2017. "Optimal Social Security Claiming Behavior under Lump Sum Incentives: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 23073, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23073
    Note: AG LS
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23073.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean-Olivier Hairault & François Langot & Thepthida Sopraseuth, 2010. "Distance to Retirement and The Job Search of Older Workers: The Case For Delaying Retirement Age," Post-Print hal-00517107, HAL.
    2. Hamish Low, 2005. "Self-Insurance in a Life-Cycle Model of Labor Supply and Savings," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 8(4), pages 945-975, October.
    3. Gustman, Alan L. & Steinmeier, Thomas L., 2015. "Effects of social security policies on benefit claiming, retirement and saving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 51-62.
    4. Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell & Ralph Rogalla & Tatjana Schimetschek, 2018. "WILL THEY TAKE THE MONEY AND WORK? PEOPLE'S WILLINGNESS TO DELAY CLAIMING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR a LUMP SUM," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 85(4), pages 877-909, December.
    5. Piazzesi, Monika & Schneider, Martin & Tuzel, Selale, 2007. "Housing, consumption and asset pricing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 531-569, March.
    6. Mastrobuoni, Giovanni, 2011. "The role of information for retirement behavior: Evidence based on the stepwise introduction of the Social Security Statement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 913-925.
    7. Attanasio, Orazio P & Weber, Guglielmo, 1995. "Is Consumption Growth Consistent with Intertemporal Optimization? Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(6), pages 1121-1157, December.
    8. Havranek, Tomas & Horvath, Roman & Irsova, Zuzana & Rusnak, Marek, 2015. "Cross-country heterogeneity in intertemporal substitution," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 100-118.
    9. Orazio P. Attanasio & Guglielmo Weber, 1993. "Consumption Growth, the Interest Rate and Aggregation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 631-649.
    10. Larry G. Epstein & Stanley E. Zin, 2013. "Substitution, risk aversion and the temporal behavior of consumption and asset returns: A theoretical framework," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 12, pages 207-239, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Jingjing Chai & Wolfram Horneff & Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2011. "Optimal Portfolio Choice over the Life Cycle with Flexible Work, Endogenous Retirement, and Lifetime Payouts," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 15(4), pages 875-907.
    12. Hall, Robert E, 1988. "Intertemporal Substitution in Consumption," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(2), pages 339-357, April.
    13. Jeffrey R. Brown & Arie Kapteyn & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2016. "Framing And Claiming: How Information-Framing Affects Expected Social Security Claiming Behavior," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 83(1), pages 139-162, January.
    14. James M. Poterba, 2014. "Retirement Security in an Aging Population," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 1-30, May.
    15. Alicia H. Munnell & Anqi Chen, 2015. "Trends in Social Security Claiming," Issues in Brief ib2015-8, Center for Retirement Research.
    16. Jingjing Chai & Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell & Ralph Rogalla, 2012. "Exchanging Delayed Social Security Benefits for Lump Sums: Could This Incentivize Longer Work Careers?," Working Papers wp266, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    17. Coile, Courtney & Diamond, Peter & Gruber, Jonathan & Jousten, Alain, 2002. "Delays in claiming social security benefits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 357-385, June.
    18. Andreas Ravndal Kostol & Magne Mogstad, 2014. "How Financial Incentives Induce Disability Insurance Recipients to Return to Work," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 624-655, February.
    19. Jean-Olivier Hairault & Francois Langot & Thepthida Sopraseuth, 2010. "Distance to Retirement and Older Workers' Employment: The Case for Delaying the Retirement Age," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(5), pages 1034-1076, September.
    20. David A. Love, 2010. "The Effects of Marital Status and Children on Savings and Portfolio Choice," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 385-432, January.
    21. Laitner, John & Silverman, Dan, 2012. "Consumption, retirement and social security: Evaluating the efficiency of reform that encourages longer careers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(7-8), pages 615-634.
    22. Tomáš Havránek, 2015. "Measuring Intertemporal Substitution: The Importance Of Method Choices And Selective Reporting," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(6), pages 1180-1204, December.
    23. Cocco, João F. & Gomes, Francisco J., 2012. "Longevity risk, retirement savings, and financial innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(3), pages 507-529.
    24. Goda, Gopi Shah & Ramnath, Shanthi & Shoven, John B. & Slavov, Sita Nataraj, 2018. "The financial feasibility of delaying Social Security: evidence from administrative tax data," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(4), pages 419-436, October.
    25. Na Yin, 2015. "Partial Benefits in the Social Security Disability Insurance Program," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 82(2), pages 463-504, June.
    26. repec:oup:jeurec:v:15:y:2017:i:2:p:429-462. is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Jessica A. Wachter & Motohiro Yogo, 2010. "Why Do Household Portfolio Shares Rise in Wealth?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(11), pages 3929-3965, November.
    28. Joachim Inkmann & Paula Lopes & Alexander Michaelides, 2011. "How Deep Is the Annuity Market Participation Puzzle?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(1), pages 279-319.
    29. van Binsbergen, Jules H. & Fernández-Villaverde, Jesús & Koijen, Ralph S.J. & Rubio-Ramírez, Juan, 2012. "The term structure of interest rates in a DSGE model with recursive preferences," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(7), pages 634-648.
    30. Andreas Hubener & Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2016. "How Family Status and Social Security Claiming Options Shape Optimal Life Cycle Portfolios," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 937-978.
    31. Jeffrey B. Liebman & Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2015. "Would People Behave Differently If They Better Understood Social Security? Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 275-299, February.
    32. James M. Poterba, 2014. "Retirement Security in an Aging Society," NBER Working Papers 19930, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Kim, Hugh Hoikwang & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2016. "Time is money: Rational life cycle inertia and the delegation of investment management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 427-447.
    34. Gustman, Alan L. & Steinmeier, Thomas L., 2005. "The social security early entitlement age in a structural model of retirement and wealth," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2-3), pages 441-463, February.
    35. Erzo F. P. Luttmer & Andrew A. Samwick, 2018. "The Welfare Cost of Perceived Policy Uncertainty: Evidence from Social Security," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 275-307, February.
    36. Saul Pleeter & John T. Warner, 2001. "The Personal Discount Rate: Evidence from Military Downsizing Programs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 33-53, March.
    37. John B. Shoven & Sita Nataraj Slavov, 2012. "The Decision to Delay Social Security Benefits: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 17866, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. Joao F. Cocco, 2005. "Consumption and Portfolio Choice over the Life Cycle," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 491-533.
    39. Shoven, John B. & Slavov, Sita Nataraj, 2014. "Does it pay to delay social security?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 121-144, April.
    40. John Chalmers & Jonathan Reuter, 2012. "How Do Retirees Value Life Annuities? Evidence from Public Employees," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(8), pages 2601-2634.
    41. John Ameriks & Andrew Caplin & Steven Laufer & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2011. "The Joy of Giving or Assisted Living? Using Strategic Surveys to Separate Public Care Aversion from Bequest Motives," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(2), pages 519-561, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Horneff, Vanya & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2023. "How would 401(k) ‘Rothification’ alter saving, retirement security, and inequality?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 265-283, July.
    2. Franca Glenzer & Pierre-Carl Michaud & Stefan Staubli, 2023. "Frames, Incentives, and Education: Effectiveness of Interventions to Delay Public Pension Claiming," CIRANO Working Papers 2023s-05, CIRANO.
    3. Vanya Horneff & Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2019. "How Would 401(k) ‘Rothification’ Alter Saving, Retirement Security, and Inequality?," Working Papers wp398, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    4. Mahmoudi, Samir Elsadek, 2023. "Late-career unemployment shocks, pension outcomes and unemployment insurance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    5. Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2017. "Incentivizing older people to delay social security claiming," SAFE Policy Letters 57, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pashchenko, Svetlana & Porapakkarm, Ponpoje, 2019. "Accounting for Social Security claiming behavior," MPRA Paper 97958, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Horneff, Vanya & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2020. "Putting the pension back in 401(k) retirement plans: Optimal versus default deferred longevity income annuities," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Horneff, Vanya & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2018. "Putting the pension back in 401(k) retirement plans: Optimal versus default longevity income annuities," CFS Working Paper Series 607, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    4. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    5. Andreas Hubener & Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2016. "How Family Status and Social Security Claiming Options Shape Optimal Life Cycle Portfolios," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 937-978.
    6. Horneff, Vanya & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S. & Rogalla, Ralph, 2015. "Optimal life cycle portfolio choice with variable annuities offering liquidity and investment downside protection," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 91-107.
    7. Kaschützke, B. & Maurer, R., 2016. "Investing and Portfolio Allocation for Retirement," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 567-608, Elsevier.
    8. Naqun Huang & Jing Li & Amanda Ross, 2022. "Housing wealth shocks, home equity withdrawal, and the claiming of Social Security retirement benefits," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 620-644, April.
    9. Horneff, Vanya & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2023. "Do required minimum distribution 401(k) rules matter, and for whom? Insights from a lifecycle model," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    10. Elminejad, Ali & Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana, 2022. "Relative Risk Aversion: A Meta-Analysis," MetaArXiv b8uhe, Center for Open Science.
    11. Horneff, Vanya & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2019. "How will persistent low expected returns shape household economic behavior?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 612-622, October.
    12. Horneff, Vanya & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2017. "How persistent low expected returns alter optimal life cycle saving, investment, and retirement behavior," SAFE Working Paper Series 190, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    13. Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2021. "Older peoples' willingness to delay social security claiming," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 410-425, July.
    14. Vanya Horneff & Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2019. "How Would 401(k) ‘Rothification’ Alter Saving, Retirement Security, and Inequality?," Working Papers wp398, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    15. Havranek, Tomas & Horvath, Roman & Irsova, Zuzana & Rusnak, Marek, 2015. "Cross-country heterogeneity in intertemporal substitution," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 100-118.
    16. Horneff, Vanya & Liebler, Daniel & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2019. "Implications of money-back guarantees for individual retirement accounts: Protection then and now," SAFE Working Paper Series 263, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    17. Michael Carlos Best & James S Cloyne & Ethan Ilzetzki & Henrik J Kleven, 2020. "Estimating the Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution Using Mortgage Notches," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(2), pages 656-690.
    18. Tomas Havranek, 2013. "Publication Bias in Measuring Intertemporal Substitution," Working Papers IES 2013/15, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Oct 2013.
    19. Justin W. van de Ven, 2017. "Parameterising a detailed dynamic programming model of savings and labour supply using cross-sectional data," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 10(1), pages 135-166.
    20. Crump, Richard K. & Eusepi, Stefano & Tambalotti, Andrea & Topa, Giorgio, 2022. "Subjective intertemporal substitution," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 118-133.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • 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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23073. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.