Pensions in the Health and Retirement Study / / Nahid Tabatabai, Thomas L. Steinmeier, Alan L. Gustman.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter HUP eBook Package Archive 1893-1999
• VerfasserIn: Gustman, Alan L.,; Steinmeier, Thomas L.,; Tabatabai, Nahid,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (400 p.)

This book presents a careful analysis of pension data collected by the Health and Retirement Study, a unique survey of people over the age of fifty conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Aging. The authors studied pensions as they evolve over individuals’ work lives and into retirement: how pension coverage and plans change over a lifetime, how many pensions workers have by the time they retire and what these pensions are worth, what pensions contribute to individual retirement incomes, and how trends and policy changes affect retirement plans. The book focuses on the major features of pensions, including plan type and participation, ages of eligibility for retirement, values of different pension types, how pension values are influenced by retirement age, how plans are settled when a worker leaves a firm, how well people understand their pensions, the importance of pensions in retirement saving and as a share of household wealth, and the vulnerability of the retirement age population to the current financial crisis. This book provides readers with an invaluable look at the crucial but ever-changing role of pensions in supporting retirees.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Tables and Figures -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Theories Explaining Pensions -- 3 Employment and Retirement in the Health and Retirement Study -- 4 Pension Data in the Health and Retirement Study -- 5 Pension Plan Participation in the Health and Retirement Study -- 6 Pension Plan Type -- 7 Imperfect Knowledge of Pension Plan Type -- 8 Pension Retirement Ages -- 9 Pension Values -- 10 Retirement Incentives from Defined Benefit Pensions -- 11 Disposition of Pensions upon Leaving a Job and Pension Incomes in Retirement -- 12 The Changing Role of Pensions in Total Wealth -- 13 Conclusions -- Appendix: Constructed Files -- Notes -- References -- Index