Simulating the distributional consequences of personal accountsSensitivity to annuitization options

Simulating the distributional consequences of personal accounts

Sensitivity to annuitization options

Uccello

Cori E.

Uccello, Cori E.

Author

Favreault

Melissa M.

Favreault, Melissa M.

Author

Smith

Karen E.

Smith, Karen E.

Author

Thompson

Lawrence H.

Thompson, Lawrence H.

Author

text

working paper

Chestnut Hill, Mass. Center for Retirement Research at Boston College20032003monographic

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

2003

monographic

Englisheng

English

eng

electronicapplication/pdfborn digital

electronic

application/pdf

born digital

Recent Social Security reform efforts focus predominantly on the establishment of personal retirement accounts either to supplement or partially replace the current Social Security program. An important issue related to these personal accounts is whether they will redistribute income and how any redistribution compares to that under the current Social Security system. The answer depends in part on how personal accounts are disbursed upon retirement. In particular, it depends on how mandatory annuitization would impact different groups, especially those with shorter life spans, and whether certain annuity features would offset the drawbacks associated with forcing even those with short life expectancies to annuitize. This paper presents a first step toward answering these questions. It first compares the distributional impacts of personal accounts to the current system. It then examines how different strategies for annuitizing personal account balances might change these distributional impacts. Of particular interest is whether certain annuity features can benefit workers with shorter life spans.

Cori E. Uccello, Melissa M. Favreault, Karen E. Smith, and Lawrence H. Thompson.

CRR WP2003-17

CRR WP

2003-17

http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Working_Papers/wp_2003-17.pdf

MChBEnglisheng

MChB

Englisheng

English

eng