Filter Results:
(133)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (133)
- Faculty Publications (21)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (133)
- Faculty Publications (21)
Page 1 of 133
Results →
- July–August 2014
- Article
The Crisis in Retirement Planning
By: Robert C. Merton
Corporate America began to really take notice of the looming retirement crisis in the wake of the dot-com crash, when companies in major industries went bankrupt in large part because of their inability to meet their pension obligations. The result was an acceleration... View Details
Merton, Robert C. "The Crisis in Retirement Planning." Harvard Business Review 92, nos. 7/8 (July–August 2014): 43–50.
- Article
Liquidity in Retirement Savings Systems: An International Comparison
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Joshua Hurwitz, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We compare the liquidity that six developed countries have built into their employer-based defined contribution (DC) retirement schemes. In Germany, Singapore, and the UK, withdrawals are essentially banned no matter what kind of transitory income shock the household... View Details
Keywords: Saving; Financial Liquidity; Retirement; Canada; Germany; Australia; United Kingdom; United States; Singapore
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, Joshua Hurwitz, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Liquidity in Retirement Savings Systems: An International Comparison." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 105, no. 5 (May 2015): 420–425.
- August 2014
- Article
What Makes Annuitization More Appealing?
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and Stephen P. Zeldes
We conduct and analyze two large surveys of hypothetical annuitization choices. We find that allowing individuals to annuitize a fraction of their wealth increases annuitization relative to a situation where annuitization is an "all or nothing" decision. Very few... View Details
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Stephen P. Zeldes. "What Makes Annuitization More Appealing?" Special Issue on NBER Pensions. Journal of Public Economics 116 (August 2014): 2–16.
- 30 Jun 2008
- Research & Ideas
Rethinking Retirement Planning
feel comfortable living on. ("It's a device to calibrate your risk tolerance," Merton says.) That information is then integrated with the employee's additional sources of retirement income such as... View Details
- 2008
- Chapter
The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
This paper summarizes the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement savings outcomes. After outlining the salient features of the various sources of retirement income in the U.S., the paper presents the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement... View Details
Keywords: Saving; Financial Condition; Retirement; Investment Funds; Microeconomics; Outcome or Result; Government and Politics; Financial Institutions; Macroeconomics; United States
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States." In Lessons from Pension Reform in the Americas, edited by Stephen J. Kay and Tapen Sinha, 59–87. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
- 06 Sep 2005
- Research & Ideas
The Best Place for Retirement Funds
households had at least $25,000 in both a taxable and a tax-deferred account. And while about two-thirds of those households held tax-efficient portfolios, most of the remaining third could reduce their taxes by relocating heavily taxed fixed View Details
Keywords: by Ann Cullen
- Web
Retirement Plan or Life Insurance - Alumni
the most highly taxed assets—subject to both estate and income taxes. HBS is a tax-exempt institution, so when you name it as a beneficiary of a qualified retirement plan, the School receives these assets... View Details
- Forthcoming
- Article
Automatic Enrollment with a 12% Default Contribution Rate
By: John Beshears, Ruofei Guo, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and James J. Choi
We study a retirement savings plan with a default contribution rate of 12% of income, which is much higher than previously studied defaults. Twenty-five percent of employees had not opted out of this default 12 months after hire; a literature review finds that the... View Details
Keywords: Retirement Savings; Defined Contribution Retirement Plan; Automatic Enrollment; Retirement; Saving; Income; Decision Choices and Conditions
Beshears, John, Ruofei Guo, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and James J. Choi. "Automatic Enrollment with a 12% Default Contribution Rate." Journal of Pension Economics & Finance (forthcoming). (Pre-published online September 11, 2023.)
- 2020
- Working Paper
Cutting the Gordian Knot of Employee Health Care Benefits and Costs: A Corporate Model Built on Employee Choice
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman
The U.S. employer-based health insurance tax exclusion created a system of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) with limited insurance choices and transparency that may lock employed households into health plans that are costlier or different from those they prefer to... View Details
Keywords: After-tax Income; Consumer-driven Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Income Inequality; Tax Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Employees; Income; Taxation; Policy; United States
Herzlinger, Regina E., and Barak D. Richman. "Cutting the Gordian Knot of Employee Health Care Benefits and Costs: A Corporate Model Built on Employee Choice." Duke Law School Public Law & Legal Theory Series, No. 2020-4, December 2019. (Revised January 2021.)
- June 2013 (Revised August 2013)
- Background Note
Note on Pension Guarantee Funds
By: Robert C. Pozen and Patricia Bissett Higgins
The United States and the United Kingdom both had quasi-government agencies that provided back-up insurance for individuals participating in defined benefit ("DB") pension plans. This note compares and contrasts the United Kingdom's Pension Protection Fund ("PPF") with... View Details
Keywords: Pensions; Pension Guarantee Funds; Pension Protection Fund; Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; Employee Retirement Income Security Act; PBGC; ERISA; MAP-21; Legislation; Insurance; Saving; Retirement; Labor; Labor and Management Relations; Employees; Insurance Industry; United States; United Kingdom
Pozen, Robert C., and Patricia Bissett Higgins. "Note on Pension Guarantee Funds." Harvard Business School Background Note 313-139, June 2013. (Revised August 2013.)
- 17 Oct 2014
- Research & Ideas
New Treasury Rules Help Long-Retirement Planning
The United States Treasury recently amended its rules to encourage workers with retirement plans to purchase life annuities within these plans. Life annuities generally make fixed monthly payments from the date of View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Smaller than We Thought? The Effect of Automatic Savings Policies
By: James J. Choi, David Laibson, Jordan Cammarota, Richard Lombardo and John Beshears
Medium- and long-run dynamics undermine the effect of automatic enrollment and default savings-rate auto-escalation on retirement savings. Our analysis of nine 401(k) plans incorporates the facts that employees frequently leave firms (often before matching... View Details
Choi, James J., David Laibson, Jordan Cammarota, Richard Lombardo, and John Beshears. "Smaller than We Thought? The Effect of Automatic Savings Policies." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 32828, November 2024.
- February 1991 (Revised November 1993)
- Exercise
Valuation and Discounted Cash Flows
A set of five exercises in valuation of simple fixed income securities. No capital budgeting. Students use present value analysis to compute discounted cash flows. Situations/concepts covered include: future value; mortgage payment and repayment; calculating implicit... View Details
Keywords: Finance
"Valuation and Discounted Cash Flows." Harvard Business School Exercise 291-028, February 1991. (Revised November 1993.)
- July 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
Carol Brewer's Investments
By: Richard S. Ruback and Julia Stevens
Following her husband's death in 1994, Carol Brewer took over the management of her family's investments. This case describes the decisions Brewer made during this process, including her choice to seek active account management, her selection of an investment firm, and... View Details
Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Retirement; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Management; Personal Finance; Investment Banking; Investment Return
Ruback, Richard S., and Julia Stevens. "Carol Brewer's Investments." Harvard Business School Case 204-017, July 2003. (Revised January 2004.)
- May 14, 2024
- Article
One Way to Help Employees Build Emergency Savings
By: Timothy Flacke and Peter Tufano
Intentional cooperation between two organizations — BlackRock, a major asset management firm, and national non-profit, Commonwealth — created the conditions for the nation’s largest payroll processor, multiple U.S. employers, retirement record keepers, and others to... View Details
Keywords: Saving; Personal Finance; Income; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Partners and Partnerships
Flacke, Timothy, and Peter Tufano. "One Way to Help Employees Build Emergency Savings." Harvard Business Review (website) (May 14, 2024).
"One Way to Help Employees Build Emergency Savings" Harvard Business Review (May 2024)
Intentional cooperation between two organizations — BlackRock, a major asset management firm, and national non-profit, Commonwealth — created the conditions for the nation’s largest payroll processor, multiple U.S. employers, retirement record keepers, and others... View Details
- September 2017 (Revised July 2021)
- Case
Asset Allocation at the Cook County Pension Fund
By: Emil Siriwardane, Juliane Begenau and Yuval Gonczarowski
Nickol Hackett, chief investment officer of the Cook County Pension Fund, is responsible for investing the fund’s $9 billion worth of assets on behalf of the employees of Cook County, Illinois. Like many other defined-benefit pensions at the time, the Cook County... View Details
Siriwardane, Emil, Juliane Begenau, and Yuval Gonczarowski. "Asset Allocation at the Cook County Pension Fund." Harvard Business School Case 218-030, September 2017. (Revised July 2021.)
- April 2011
- Article
Behavioral Economics Perspectives on Public Sector Pension Plans
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We describe the pension plan features of the states and the largest cities and counties in the U.S. Unlike in the private sector, defined benefit (DB) pensions are still the norm in the public sector. However, a few jurisdictions have shifted towards defined... View Details
Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Public Sector; Retirement; Private Sector; Compensation and Benefits; United States
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Behavioral Economics Perspectives on Public Sector Pension Plans." Journal of Pension Economics & Finance 10, no. 2 (April 2011): 315–336.
- Fall 2014
- Article
Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing
The price indexation of Social Security benefit payments has emerged in recent years as a flashpoint of debate in the United States. I characterize the direct effects that changes in that price index would have on retirees who differ in their initial wealth at... View Details
Weinzierl, Matthew. "Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing." Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (Fall 2014): 137–196.
- July 2009 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
Pfizer: Letter from the Chairman (A)
By: Robert L. Simons and Natalie Kindred
This case explores maximizing shareholder value as a goal in executive decision making. Over a period of nine years, three different Pfizer CEOs make critical decisions intended to increase shareholder value. But the results are disappointing. To allow students to... View Details
Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Annual Reports; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States
Simons, Robert L., and Natalie Kindred. "Pfizer: Letter from the Chairman (A)." Harvard Business School Case 110-003, July 2009. (Revised May 2010.)