The Effect of Tax-Deferred Retirement Saving Accounts: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis

The present paper constructs a dynamic general-equilibrium OLG model with heterogeneous households and analyzes the effect of tax-deferred retirement saving accounts. When stylized 401(k)-type accounts are introduced, the government tax revenue decreases by 26% in the short run and by 15% in the long run. If the government finances these costs by a onetime income tax increase with government debt, it has to raise the marginal tax rates by 31% to make the policy change sustainable. National wealth and output will decline by 1.4% and 2.8%, respectively, in the long run, and households of all cohorts will be worse off.