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Bridging the Gap in Pension Participation: How Much Can Universal Tax-Deferred Pension Coverage Hope to Achieve?

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  • Karamcheva, Nadia S

    (Congressional Budget Office)

  • Sanzenbacher, Geoffrey

    (Boston College)

Abstract

In light of the declining pension coverage of low-income workers, policy makers have discussed requiring all employers to offer individual retirement accounts, similar to defined contribution plans. How likely to participate are workers who currently do not have access to a pension plan? We address this question by using plausibly exogenous variation in pension-plan availability to estimate the determinants of participation in a standard selection on unobservables model. We find that currently uncovered low-income workers are fairly likely to participate in a newly offered plan, yet they are much less likely to do so than currently covered workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Karamcheva, Nadia S & Sanzenbacher, Geoffrey, 2013. "Bridging the Gap in Pension Participation: How Much Can Universal Tax-Deferred Pension Coverage Hope to Achieve?," IZA Discussion Papers 7518, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7518
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bassett, William F. & Fleming, Michael J. & Rodrigues, Anthony P., 1998. "How Workers Use 401(K) Plans: The Participation, Contribution, and Withdrawal Decisions," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 51(2), pages 263-289, June.
    2. John Beshears & James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian, 2010. "The Impact of Employer Matching on Savings Plan Participation under Automatic Enrollment," NBER Chapters, in: Research Findings in the Economics of Aging, pages 311-327, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Alicia H. Munnell & Francesca Golub-Sass & Dan Muldoon, 2009. "An Update on 401(k) Plans: Insights From the 2007 SCF," Issues in Brief ib2009-9-5, Center for Retirement Research, revised Mar 2009.
    4. Nadia Karamcheva & Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, 2010. "Is Pension Inequality Growing?," Issues in Brief ib2009-10-1, Center for Retirement Research, revised Jan 2010.
    5. Gary V. Engelhardt & Anil Kumar, 2007. "Employer Matching and 401(k) Saving: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," NBER Chapters, in: Public Policy and Retirement, Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), pages 1920-1943, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. 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.
    7. Michael D. Hurd & Susann Rohwedder, 2011. "Economic Preparation for Retirement," NBER Chapters,in: Investigations in the Economics of Aging, pages 77-113 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Barbara A. Butrica & Nadia Karamcheva, 2012. "Automatic Enrollment, Employee Compensation, and Retirement Security," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2012-25, Center for Retirement Research.
    9. April Yanyuan Wu & Nadia S. Karamcheva & Alicia H. Munnell & Patrick Purcell, 2013. "How Do the Changing Labor Supply Behavior and Marriage Patterns of Women Affect Social Security Replacement Rates?," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2013-16, Center for Retirement Research.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anek Belbase & Geoffrey T. Sanzenbacher, 2017. "Default Contribution Rates and Participation in Automatic IRAs by Uncovered Workers," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 42(3), pages 376-388, July.
    2. Ho, Anson T.Y., 2017. "Tax-deferred saving accounts: Heterogeneity and policy reforms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 26-41.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    self-selection; participation; private pensions; policy effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • 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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