An Analysis Of Pension Benefit Formulas, Pension Wealth And Incentives From Pensions

This paper investigates empirical issues related to pensions. It uses the 1983 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), a data set with detailed information both on workers and on their pensions. The paper presents new estimates of pension values for various groups. It compares pension values based on relatively complete SCF data with estimates based on incomplete data of the type found in other data sets. It also examines incentives that pensions create for retirement and job mobility, and relates these incentives to plan characteristics. Some findings appear inconsistent with standard explanations for the existence and nature of pensions.