RT Journal Article
T1 Pension policy literacy and retirement expectations: a cross-country survey experiment
A1 Fernández González, Juan Jesús
A1 Radl, Jonas
AB Objectives: This study reports the findings of the first cross-national survey experiment on the effects of information onthe expected retirement age. Given the drawbacks of unrealistic retirement expectations, the study examines the impacts ofnonpartisan information about future demographic aging and forecasted pension benefit levels.Methods: An online survey experiment was conducted in the United States, Germany, and Spain in 2018 using an internetaccess panel. We assigned respondents to 2 random treatments: one citing the change in the projected share of the populationolder than 65 years (demographic treatment) and another citing the projected change in pension replacement rates(benefits treatment), both for 2015–2040. Treatment effects on the expected retirement age are reported.Results: The benefits treatment has a strong influence on retirement expectations. In the United States, respondents informedof the expected decline in pension replacement rates expect to retire 2 years later than respondents not informedof the decline. In Spain, this treatment leads to an approximately 9-month postponement of expected retirement, while nosignificant effect is found in Germany. In addition, the demographic treatment does not affect retirement expectations inthe countries studied. Respondents in all countries informed of future population aging do not show different expected retirementages than respondents not given this information.Discussion: People’s retirement expectations are sensitive to information on future changes in pension generosity but notto information on population aging. The results suggest information campaigns focused on declining pension replacementrates may help extend working lives.
PB Oxford University Press
SN 1758-5368
YR 2022
FD 2022-04-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10016/34861
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10016/34861
LA eng
NO This work was supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) (CSO2015-70297-R); and the “Programa de actividades de I + D entre grupos de investigación de la Comunidad de Madrid en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades” (H2019/HUM-5802).
DS e-Archivo
RD 17 jul. 2024