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Switching Costs and Competition in Retirement Investment

Author

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  • Fernando Luco

Abstract

How do different switching costs affect choices and competition in a private pension system? I answer this question in a setting in which variation in employment status allows me to identify two switching costs that jointly affect enrollees' decisions: the cost of evaluating financial information and the cost of the bureaucratic process that enrollees must navigate when switching. I use this variation to estimate the different switching costs and study their impact on competition among pension funds. I find that though eliminating all switching costs decreases equilibrium fees the most, eliminating either switching cost decreases fees significantly.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando Luco, 2019. "Switching Costs and Competition in Retirement Investment," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 26-54, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:26-54
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.20160332
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Zach Y. Brown & Mark L. Egan & Jihye Jeon & Chuqing Jin & Alex A. Wu, 2023. "Why Do Index Funds Have Market Power? Quantifying Frictions in the Index Fund Market," NBER Working Papers 31778, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Black, J. Stewart & van Esch, Patrick, 2021. "AI-enabled recruiting in the war for talent," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 513-524.
    3. Irene Maria Buso & John Hey, 2021. "Why do consumers not switch? An experimental investigation of a search and switch model," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 91(4), pages 445-476, November.
    4. Fisher, Jack & Gavazza, Alessandro & Liu, Lu & Ramadorai, Tarun & Tripathy, Jagdish, 2024. "Refinancing cross-subsidies in the mortgage market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    5. Dahl, Gordon B. & Forbes, Silke J., 2023. "Doctor switching costs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    6. Harrison, Rodrigo & Parada-Contzen, Marcela & Villena, Marcelo, 2023. "Can auctions increase competition in the pension funds market? The Chilean experience," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 975-993.
    7. Jõeveer, Karin & Kepp, Kaido, 2023. "What drives drivers? Switching, learning, and the impact of claims in car insurance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    8. Javier D. Donna, 2021. "Measuring long‐run gasoline price elasticities in urban travel demand," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(4), pages 945-994, December.
    9. Tamara Bischof & Michael Gerfin & Tobias Mueller, 2021. "Attention Please! Health Plan Choice and (In-)Attention," Diskussionsschriften dp2111, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    10. Sam Flanders & Melati Nungsari & Marcela Parada‐Contzen, 2020. "Pricing schemes and market efficiency in private retirement systems," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(4), pages 1041-1068, August.
    11. Karle, Heiko & Schumacher, Heiner & Vølund, Rune, 2023. "Consumer loss aversion and scale-dependent psychological switching costs," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 214-237.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • 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
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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    1. Switching Costs and Competition in Retirement Investment (AEJ:MI 2019) in ReplicationWiki

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