Do Employer Pension Contributions Reflect Employee Preferences? Evidence from a Retirement Savings Reform in Denmark

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fadlon, Itzik; Laird, Jessica; Nielsen, Torben Heien
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California San Diego; Harvard University; University of Copenhagen
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20150015
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 196-216
• 关键词: occupational pensions; financial literacy

摘要

This paper studies how firms set contributions to employer provided 401(k)-type pension plans. Using a reform that decreased the subsidy to contributions to capital pension accounts for Danish workers in the top income tax bracket, we provide strong evidence that employers' contributions are based on their employees' savings preferences. We find an immediate decrease in employer contributions to capital accounts, whose magnitude increased in the share of employees directly affected by the reform. This response was large relative to average employee responses within private IRA-type plans and was accompanied by a similar magnitude shift of employer contributions to annuity accounts.