Department: Economics.

This study updates what we know about the Great Recession’s impact on older unemployed Americans’ health and pre-retirement life by focusing on their wealth and income sources, health insurance access, poverty rates, unemployment duration, labor force drop-out rates, and Social Security...

Workplace retirement plans (DC and DBs) help workers save for retirement conveniently, consistently, and automatically. But retirement account offer rates are steadily declining. Between 2001-2003 and 2010-2012, the retirement plan offer rate dropped from 63% to 55%. The drop is driven by a...

This study assesses the role of Social Security (OASI) and Social Security Disability Insurance, 401(k) plans, unemployment insurance, Medicare, and the federal income tax system in moderating the business cycle in the United States. Using Instrumental Variable (IV) estimation, we demonstrate...

Using monthly data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) from December through May 2020, I compare unemployment rates and hours worked last week relative to usual hours between gig workers and standard workers. Utilizing four definitions of gig work, I find gig workers fared worse than...

In the face of deepening economic precarity, Americans have been turning to one another for informal support. What is the value of this collectivist safety net? Through a combination of anthropology and economics, this study introduces a way to measure collectivist practices. Applying this...

Changes in accumulated retirement savings, particularly in employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) plan balances, differ by worker’s earnings levels. Earnings shocks, portfolio diversification, and employer contributions to worker’s DC plans affect retirement savings for lower earners...

To date, there remains much confusion about when the first cases of COVID-19 occurred in the U.S. This knowledge informs models of COVID-19 transmission and impacts its estimated fatality rate. We employed a differencing analysis on the Current Population Survey (CPS) to examine how rates of...