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...

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...

This paper investigates how various retirement institutions impact the macroeconomy. We find that for every 1 percentage point increase in the output gap, net flows of various government programmes including Social Security decrease by 0.34 percentage points, while net flows of 401(k) plans...

As this report was being prepared in the summer of 2011, America’s institutional investors continued to face significant regulatory uncertainties as policy makers – including the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and Vice President Biden’s Middle Class Task Force –...

As traditional pensions, or defined benefit (DB) plans, are replaced by defined contribution plans (DC), workers in New York City and in the nation have less retirement security. Coverage rates for employer plans are falling. Most DC retirement accounts are in the form of 401(k)-type plans -...

Employers are the heart of the American pension system and yet they are not well understood by policy makers despite the great influence of Congress on pension design through both regulation and favorable tax treatment of retirement accounts. Employer contributions to employee pensions have...

This paper investigates the determinants of global child labor among countries with non-zero child labor rates. I find that the average child labor rate across countries rises with the size of the rural population, female labor force participation and fertility, whereas it falls with increases...

This interdisciplinary study combines anthropological and economic theories and methods to understand how Mexican-Americans’ collectivist cultural values affect their savings behavior and their preparation for retirement. Mexican-Americans are the fastest growing immigrant group in the United...

Climate change models predict that storm frequency will decrease over time, while storm intensity will increase. This paper looks at the national effects of storm frequency and storm intensity on various industries in the US economy, using yearly data from 1977 through 1997. We find that yearly...

This paper examines whether local relative factor supplies affect local relative factor prices across US states. Using data on relative wages and relative labor supplies across the US, I find that state specific relative labor supplies significantly impact state specific relative wages across...