Assessing Knowledge of Retirement Behavior

This book brings together in one volume what researchers have learned about workers, employers, and retirees that is important for formulating retirement income policies. As the U.S. population ages, there is increasing uncertainty about the solvency of the Social Security and Medicare systems and the adequacy of private pensions to provide for people's retirement needs. The volume covers such critical behaviors as workers' decisions to retire, people's choices of saving over consumption, and employers' decisions about hiring older workers and providing pension and health care benefits. Also covered are trends in mortality, health status, and health care costs that are key to projecting the likely costs and effects of alternative retirement income security policies and a strategy for combining data and research knowledge into a policy modeling framework.Table of ContentsFRONT MATTER1 INTRODUCTION2 INCOME AND WEALTH OF OLDER AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS: MODELING ISSUES FOR PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS3 FACTORS AFFECTING LABOR SUPPLY DECISIONS AND RETIREMENT INCOME4 PERSONAL SAVING BEHAVIOR AND RETIREMENT INCOME MODELING: A RESEARCH ASSESSMENT5 RETIREMENT AGE AND RETIREMENT INCOME: THE ROLE OF THE FIRM6 ASSESSING FORECASTS OF MORTALITY, HEALTH STATUS, AND HEALTH COSTS DURING BABY BOOMERS' RETIREMENT7 A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING FUTURE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITYBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES