The Effect of Pension Design on Employer Costs and Employee Retirement Choices: Evidence from Oregon

Previously circulated as "Pension Costs and Retirement Decisions in Plans that Combine DB and DC Elements: Evidence from Oregon.bv" Prepared for "Retirement Benefits for State and Local Employees: Designing Pension Plans for the Twenty-First Century," NBER Conference, August 17-18, 2012, Jackson Hole, WY. We thank John Shoven (discussant) and the other conference participants for encouraging us to extend our analysis in interesting new directions, and we thank seminar participants at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research for many helpful suggestions. We thank employees from Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System, who provided invaluable assistance by helping us to collect and interpret PERS data, Guy Tauer from the Oregon Employment Department, who helped us collect additional data, and Lenore Robbins. The authors acknowledge financial support from the Smith Richardson Foundation. Parts of this research were supported by the U.S. Social Security Administration through grant #10-P-98363-1-05 to the National Bureau of Economic Research as part of the SSA Retirement Research Consortium. The findings and conclusions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not represent the views of the SSA, any agency of the Federal Government, or the NBER. The Securities and Exchange Commission, as a matter of policy, disclaims responsibility for any private publication or statement by any of its employees. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission or of its staff.

• November 6, 2012