Retirement Security in an Aging Population
Author(s)
Poterba, James M.
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Elderly individuals exhibit wide disparities in their sources of income. For those in the bottom half of the income distribution, Social Security is the most important source of support; program changes would directly affect their well-being. Income from private pensions, assets, and earnings are relatively more important for higher-income elderly individuals, who have more diverse income sources. The trend from private sector defined benefit to defined contribution pension plans has shifted responsibility for retirement security to individuals. A significant subset of the population is unlikely to be able to sustain their standard of living in retirement without higher pre-retirement saving.
Date issued
2014-05Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of EconomicsJournal
American Economic Review
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Poterba, James M. “ Retirement Security in an Aging Population † .” American Economic Review 104, no. 5 (May 2014): 1–30.
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0002-8282