Contributions to Defined Contribution Pension Plans
31 Pages Posted: 18 Aug 2015 Last revised: 27 Feb 2022
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Contributions to Defined Contribution Pension Plans
Contributions to Defined Contribution Pension Plans
Date Written: August 2015
Abstract
Defined contribution (DC) pensions are an increasingly important means of financing retirement consumption. Because individuals often have substantial discretion over how much is contributed to their DC pension, studying DC contribution choices provides general insights into the determinants of individual economic decision-making. The literature has found strong deviations from many predictions of classical frictionless optimizing models. I provide an overview of the U.S. DC pension system and review the literature on the effect of matching contributions, automatic enrollment, active choice deadlines, choice overload, financial literacy, peer effects, mental accounting, and personal experience on individuals’ DC contributions.
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