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COVID-19 and attitudes towards early withdrawal of pension funds: The role of trust and political ideology

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  • López, Fernando
  • Rosas, Guillermo

Abstract

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chilean Congress approved three laws between July 2020 and April 2021 that allowed early withdrawals of pension funds without any eligibility constraints. In this paper, we use nationwide survey data to examine the factors associated with people’s assessments about the suitability of these policies in the context of the pandemic, with a particular focus on trust and political ideology. We find that respondents that declare high levels of trust in Chile’s pension system, financial system, and political institutions and actors tend to oppose early withdrawal policies. Similarly, respondents on the right of the political spectrum and those that voted for the incumbent president, who opposed this policy, also declare opposition to early withdrawals. Overall, our findings suggest that political attitudes and beliefs are associated with policy views on changes to Chile’s pension-fund system and that support for early withdrawal policies may be driven by lack of confidence in institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • López, Fernando & Rosas, Guillermo, 2022. "COVID-19 and attitudes towards early withdrawal of pension funds: The role of trust and political ideology," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:23:y:2022:i:c:s2212828x22000524
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2022.100420
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    Cited by:

    1. Bateman, Hazel & Dobrescu, Loretti I. & Liu, Junhao & Newell, Ben R. & Thorp, Susan, 2023. "Determinants of early-access to retirement savings: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retirement; Pension; Early withdrawal of pension funds; Trust; Political ideology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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