Temporary and permanent effects of withdrawal penalties on retirement savings accounts

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Goda, Gopi Shah; Jones, Damon; Ramnath, Shanthi
• 署名单位: National Bureau of Economic Research; Stanford University; University of Chicago; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104734
• 发表日期: 2022
• 关键词: Retirement savings accounts; Withdrawals; distributions; Penalty

摘要

We investigate the impact of the early withdrawal penalty on Individual Retirement Account (IRA) with-drawals by examining behavior in a short window before and after the age when the penalty is lifted. We find a large, sudden increase in withdrawals after the penalty's expiration of 3-3.5 times the baseline level, with no evidence of anticipatory behavior. After one month, average withdrawals decline to and persist at approximately double the baseline. We find that the short-run increase is more pronounced when liquidity constraints are more likely to have been binding. Finally, we explore the implications of our results for policies that adjust the age at which early penalties expire or policies that temporarily remove such penalties.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.