IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/nbr/nberch/13669.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Supplemental Plan Offerings and Retirement Saving Choices: An Analysis of North Carolina School Districts

In: The Impact of Reforms of State Retirement Plans

Author

Listed:
  • Robert L. Clark
  • Emma Hanson
  • Melinda S. Morrill
  • Aditi Pathak

Abstract

Unlike private sector employers, public school districts generally offer more than one type of supplemental retirement savings plan and allow multiple vendors to offer products. Using individual-level payroll data from over half of the public school districts in North Carolina coupled with data from an employer survey, this study examines the impact of inter-district differences in supplemental plan administration on participation in these savings vehicles. We find wide variation in total participation rates and in 403(b) plan participation rates in particular, even among this population of public-sector workers with the same defined benefit pension plan, health plan, and retiree health coverage. Individual and district characteristics explain some, but not all, of the variation observed.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Robert L. Clark & Emma Hanson & Melinda S. Morrill & Aditi Pathak, 2015. "Supplemental Plan Offerings and Retirement Saving Choices: An Analysis of North Carolina School Districts," NBER Chapters, in: The Impact of Reforms of State Retirement Plans, pages 333-355, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:13669
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert L. Clark & Melinda Sandler Morrill, 2010. "Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13688.
    2. David A. Wise, 2009. "Developments in the Economics of Aging," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number wise09-1.
    3. Jeffrey R. Brown & Nellie Liang & Scott Weisbenner, 2007. "Individual Account Investment Options and Portfolio Choice: Behavioral Lessons from 401(k) Plans," NBER Chapters, in: Public Policy and Retirement, Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), pages 1992-2013, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian, 2010. "Why Does the Law of One Price Fail? An Experiment on Index Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(4), pages 1405-1432, April.
    5. Mitchell, Olivia S. & Utkus, Stephen P. (ed.), 2004. "Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Finance," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199273393.
    6. Duflo, Esther & Saez, Emmanuel, 2002. "Participation and investment decisions in a retirement plan: the influence of colleagues' choices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 121-148, July.
    7. Robert L. Clark & Lee A. Craig & John Sabelhaus, 2011. "State and Local Retirement Plans in the United States," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13685.
    8. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2017. "How Ordinary Consumers Make Complex Economic Decisions: Financial Literacy and Retirement Readiness," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-31, September.
    9. Brigitte C. Madrian & Dennis F. Shea, 2001. "The Power of Suggestion: Inertia in 401(k) Participation and Savings Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(4), pages 1149-1187.
    10. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    11. Gur Huberman & Sheena Iyengar & Wei Jiang, 2007. "Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Determinants of Participation and Contributions Rates," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 31(1), pages 1-32, February.
    12. Iyengar, Sheena S. & Kamenica, Emir, 2010. "Choice proliferation, simplicity seeking, and asset allocation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(7-8), pages 530-539, August.
    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. Robert L. Clark & Aditi Pathak & Denis Pelletier, 2018. "Supplemental Retirement Savings Plans in the Public Sector: Participation and Contribution Decisions by School Personnel," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 383-404, December.
    2. Laura D. Quinby & Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, 2021. "Do Public Sector Workers Increase Their Outside Savings in Response to Pension Cuts?," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1023, Boston College Department of Economics.
    3. Robert L. Clark & Robert G. Hammond & Christelle Khalaf, 2019. "Planning for Retirement? The Importance of Time Preferences," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 127-150, June.
    4. Robert L. Clark & Robert G. Hammond & Melinda Sandler Morrill & Christelle Khalaf, 2017. "Nudging Retirement Savings: A Field Experiment on Supplemental Plans," NBER Working Papers 23679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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. Mitchell, O.S. & Piggott, J., 2016. "Workplace-Linked Pensions for an Aging Demographic," 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 865-904, Elsevier.
    2. Cardella, Eric & Kalenkoski, Charlene M. & Parent, Michael, 2018. "Less Is Not More: Information Presentation Complexity and 401(k) Planning Choices," IZA Discussion Papers 11538, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Choi, James J. & Haisley, Emily & Kurkoski, Jennifer & Massey, Cade, 2017. "Small cues change savings choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 378-395.
    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. Beshears, John & Choi, James J. & Laibson, David & Madrian, Brigitte C., 2013. "Simplification and saving," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 130-145.
    6. Thomas Rapp & Nicolas Aubert, 2011. "Bank Employee Incentives and Stock Purchase Plans Participation," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 40(3), pages 185-203, December.
    7. Mitchell, Olivia S. & Utkus, Stephen P., 2022. "Target-date funds and portfolio choice in 401(k) plans," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 519-536, October.
    8. Bateman, Hazel & Dobrescu, Loretti I. & Newell, Ben R. & Ortmann, Andreas & Thorp, Susan, 2016. "As easy as pie: How retirement savers use prescribed investment disclosures," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 60-76.
    9. Keim, Donald B. & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2018. "Simplifying choices in defined contribution retirement plan design: a case study," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 363-384, July.
    10. Michael P. Keane & Susan Thorp, 2016. "Complex Decision Making: The Roles of Cognitive Limitations, Cognitive Decline and Ageing," Economics Papers 2016-W10, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    11. Jeffrey R. Brown & Nellie Liang & Scott Weisbenner, 2007. "Individual Account Investment Options and Portfolio Choice: Behavioral Lessons from 401(k) Plans," NBER Chapters, in: Public Policy and Retirement, Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), pages 1992-2013, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Kast, Felipe & Meier, Stephan & Pomeranz, Dina, 2018. "Saving more in groups: Field experimental evidence from Chile," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 275-294.
    13. Donald B. Keim & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2016. "Simplifying Choices in Defined Contribution Retirement Plan Design," NBER Working Papers 21854, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Robert L. Clark & Aditi Pathak & Denis Pelletier, 2018. "Supplemental Retirement Savings Plans in the Public Sector: Participation and Contribution Decisions by School Personnel," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 383-404, December.
    15. Keane, M.P. & Thorp, S., 2016. "Complex Decision Making," 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 661-709, Elsevier.
    16. Tse, Alan & Friesen, Lana & Kalaycı, Kenan, 2016. "Complexity and asset legitimacy in retirement investment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 35-48.
    17. Halit Yanıkkaya & Zeynep Aktaş Koral & Sadettin Haluk Çitçi, 2023. "The Power of Financial Incentives versus the Power of Suggestion for Individual Pension: Are Financial Incentives or Automatic Enrollment Policies More Effective?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    18. Cox, James C. & Kreisman, Daniel & Dynarski, Susan, 2020. "Designed to fail: Effects of the default option and information complexity on student loan repayment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    19. Gerrans, Paul & Moulang, Carly & Feng, Jun & Strydom, Maria, 2018. "Individual and peer effects in retirement savings investment choices," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 150-165.
    20. Keenan Dworak-Fisher, 2011. "Matching Matters in 401(k) Plan Participation," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 713-737, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

    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:nberch:13669. 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.