Pension Substitution in the 1980s: Why the Shift toward Defined Contribution?

The relative decline of defined benefit (DB) pension plans, and growth of defined contribution (DC) plans, has been often noted but not extensively explored. This paper reports on the construction of a new longitudinal company-based data set on pension plans for the years 1980-86 (including all U.S. companies with large plans, and a 10 percent sample of companies with small plans, at any point during this period). The decline in DB coverage is primarily due to fewer participants in companies maintaining such plans, while very little of the growth in DC coverage is due to companies terminating DB plans. Also, multinomial logit analysis of manufacturing company choices indicates that the higher administrative costs of DB plans lead new adopters to favor DC plans, but this explains little of the tremendous growth in DC plans. In addition, higher industry variability and capital intensity, and smaller company size, lead new adopters to favor DC plans.     

The Stampede Toward Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Fact or Fiction?

This paper questions recent conclusions that the trend in primary plan type toward defined contribution plans and away from defined benefit plans is due to increased pension regulation. Analysis of data from IRS 5500 filings by pension administrators shows that at least half of the trend is due to a shift in employment mix toward firms with industry, size, and union status that have historically been associated with lower defined benefit plan rates. Not more than half of the trend can be attributed to a "stampede" by firms with given industry, size, and union status toward defined contribution pension coverage.     

Defined Contribution Plans and the Distribution of Pension Wealth

Over the past 20 years, the defined benefit (DB) plan has been replaced by the defined contribution (DC) plan as the most popular form of pension plan. This study examines the likely consequences of this transformation for both the level and distribution of future pension wealth using a sample of DB and DC plans from the Survey of Consumer Finances. The results reveal that the shift from DB to DC plans is likely to simultaneously increase the level and inequality of pension wealth at retirement. The evidence also suggests that the shift to DC plans may result in less pension wealth at retirement for low‐income workers, women, and minorities.     

Cash Balance Plans and the Distribution of Pension Wealth

Recent pension plan conversions by numerous large employers have sparked debate about the merits of cash balance plans. This article compares pension wealth in traditional defined benefit (DB) plans and cash balance plans for a national sample of covered Americans aged 51 to 61. The simulations indicate that replacing DB plans with cash balance plans would redistribute pension wealth from those with long-term jobs to those with multiple short-term jobs and from those with substantial pension benefits to those with more limited benefits. Perhaps unexpectedly, women at midlife in 1992 with DB coverage would lose wealth in cash balance plans, but future cohorts of women are likely to fare better.     

The Survival Rate of Defined-Benefit Plans, 1987-1995

We look at the survival rate of defined-benefit pension plans with at least 500 participants over the period 1987–1995. We find that termination in favor of defined-contribution plans is a rare event and that the vast majority of these plans survive, albeit often under a different plan sponsor or in a new merged plan. Indeed, the frequency of mergers is an important feature in the pension market and partially explains the growing number of large defined-benefit plans.     

Growth of Participant Direction in Defined Contribution Plans

Using data from IRS Form 5500, this study examines the causes and consequences of the shift toward participant direction of investments in defined contribution plans. The analysis reveals that collective bargaining and pension investments in employer stock reduce the chance of a switch to participant direction, whereas below average returns increases the chance. Also, a switch to participant direction increases employee contributions to the pension and reduces the share of assets invested in employer securities.     

Explaining Patterns of Profit-Sharing Activity

This paper compares the characteristics of firms that adopt deferred profit-sharing plans with those that adopt pension plans. Tax reports from a sample of 6, 000 firms in various industries are incorporated into logistic regression equations that predict whether these firms will have pension or deferred profit-sharing plans. The evidence suggests that custom in the labor market may play the greatest role in influencing the choice between the two plans.     

Employer Pension Contributions and 401(k) Plans: A Note

We investigate the pension choices of over 800 firms between 1988 and 1996. Using the data on pension plan finances from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 5500, required annually from firms sponsoring plans, and on firm finances from Compustat, we find support that a 10 percent increase in the use of 401(k) plans reduces pension costs per worker by 1.8 to 2.0 percent. Collective bargaining helps to mitigate the decline in employer costs.     

Incentive and Redistributive Effects of Private-Sector Union Pension Plans in Canada

Using data for pension plans in the private sector for males in Canada, this paper examines flat benefit plans, which predominate in the union sector, documenting their work and retirement incentives, the extent to which retroactive enrichments redistribute wealth within union membership, and the impact of anticipated enrichments on the timing of early retirement decisions     

积累制养老保障模式的建立与我国资本市场的作用

资本市场与养老基金之间的良性循环是实现积累制养老保障模式的前提条件和根本保证.养老保险模式个人账户后实现部分积累功能,必须充分发挥资本市场的作用.目前我国资本市场严重滞后于养老保障制度的改革,已成为我国积累制养老保障模式发展的障碍,因此,必须加快资本市场改革,为养老基金进入资本市场提供有利条件,使养老基金成为资本市场的重要力量,在两者相互促进中,实现共同发展.     

Scale Economies in Union Pension Plan Administration: 1981–1993

We confirm previous findings that as the pension plan size increases, administrative costs per participant and asset fall after controlling for the proportion of retirees in a plan. However, we question the inference that the high costs of administering small plans partly explains why small firms generally do not sponsor pension plans. This study uses Internal Revenue Service annual data to compare the administrative costs of Taft-Hartley plans from 1981 to 1993. Centralization may save costs but also may inhibit formation. Union plans are naturally small; they form at the local level.     

Faculty Choice of a Pension Plan: Defined Benefit versus Defined Contribution

Worker preferences between defined-benefit and defined-contribution pension plans are estimated using a sample of faculty members at North Carolina State University. Newly hired faculty must decide between the state retirement plan (a final pay, defined-benefit plan) and one of three defined-contribution plans (TIAA/CREF, VALIC, Lincoln National). This analysis allows the authors to estimate the choice of a pension plan holding constant the place of employment. The study uses both university employment records and a faculty survey to examine the factors that determine the choice of a pension.     

The Effects of Working Time, Segmentation and Labour Market Mobility on Wages and Pensions in Ireland

Most research on pay and benefit differences between full– and part–time work focuses on characteristics of part–time workers and part–time jobs. However, part–time jobs are more open to labour market 'outsiders', and such labour market mobility can influence wages. We analyse the effects of working time, gender, segmentation and mobility on wages and pension benefits in Ireland. Both segmentation and mobility influence wages directly, and controlling for segmentation in a wage model eliminates the negative effect of part–time working. The wage effects of labour market mobility differ by gender and labour market segment. Pension entitlement is strongly influenced by gender, working time, labour market segment and mobility.     

Predation and network based price discrimination in Chile

This paper uses a model of strategic interaction among firms –that set discriminatory and nonlinear prices– in addition to public information on prices of the plans marketed by the three major mobile phone companies, to assess the extent to which on-net/off-net price differentials in the plans they offered could represent predatory practices in the mobile telephony market in Chile. The results show that the largest companies offered a few plans with an off-net/on-net price differential larger than what a competitive theoretical model predicts. This larger differential is consistent with the notion of predation defined by Hoernig (2007) as reducing a competitor's profits. Despite the fact that these plans were a small fraction of all the plans mobile phone firms offered, they were recently banned by the antitrust authority because of their potential anticompetitive effects.     

Race and Gender Wage Gaps in the Market for Recent College Graduates

Using a large sample of recent college graduates, the study tests the hypothesis that observed race and gender wage differentials reflect between-group differences in the type and quality of education attained rather than labor market discrimination. After controlling for narrowly defined college major, college grade point average, and the exact educational institution attended, white male and Hispanic male graduates earn 10 to 15 percent more per hour than comparable female, black male, or Asian male graduates.     

Effects of Occupational Licensing and Unions on Labour Market Earnings in Canada

Using longitudinal data from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics from 1999 to 2011, the article compares the pay and benefits of licensed and unionized workers. In a cross section of respondents and using ordinary least squares estimates, it finds a pay premium of 0.155 log points for those with an occupational licence compared to those without one; the comparable union wage premium is slightly more than half, that is 0.085 log points. Fixed‐effects estimates go in the opposite direction (0.028 and 0.046 log points for licensing and unionization, respectively), suggesting the existence of unobservable factors correlated with licensing and union status. Unionized workers are more likely to access standard benefits, such as medical insurance and pension plans, but licensed workers benefit little from their licensing status in access to benefits. Finally, union workers are significantly less likely to receive incentive pay, such as profit sharing, while the association between occupational licensing and incentive pay is close to zero and statistically insignificant.     

The Effects of Employer Matching in 401(k) Plans

This paper uses data from the April 1993 pension supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS) to investigate the impact of employer matching and employee tenure on participation levels in 401(k) plans. While earlier studies examine similar issues, this study makes several advances. First, consistent with the theory that employers may use matching contributions to satisfy nondiscrimination rules, the study shows that correcting for the endogeneity of employer matching substantially increases the estimated effect of matching on participation levels. Second, the study provides evidence that the large positive association between employee tenure and 401(k) participation is because "stayers" tend to be "savers."     

Multimarket Contact in Health Insurance: Evidence from Medicare Advantage*

Many industries consist of large firms that compete in multiple geographic markets. Such overlap, defined as multimarket contact (MMC), may facilitate tacit collusion and soften competition. We examine the effects of MMC on health insurance prices and quality using comprehensive data on the Medicare Advantage (MA) market from 2008 through 2015. Our identification strategy exploits two plausibly exogenous changes to MMC: (1) out-of-market mergers; and (2) policy-driven changes in the benchmark rates of other markets. Our results consistently support the mutual forbearance hypothesis, where we find that prices are significantly higher and high-quality plans less pervasive as MMC increases.     

Does Pension Wealth Peak at the Age of Early Retirement?

Once an employee has qualified for early retirement, continuing to work involves an implicit tax in the form of forgone pension payments. We explore this implicit pension tax in a Canadian setting and find that, contrary to Lazear (1983), but consistent with most U.S. studies, pension wealth generally does not peak at the date of first eligibility for early retirement. We highlight the importance of the earnings path posited for older workers, anticipated enrichments to flat benefit formulas, and the distinction between reduced and unreduced early retirement as determinants of this result.