Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Including Jobs In Benefit-Cost Analysis, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Public policies may affect employment by directly creating jobs, facilitating job creation, or augmenting labor supply. In labor markets with high unemployment, such employment changes may have significant net efficiency benefits, which should be included in benefit-cost analyses.
The research literature offers diverse recommendations on measuring employment benefits. Many of the recommendations rely on arbitrary assumptions. The resulting employment benefit estimates vary widely.
This paper reviews this literature, and offers recommendations on how to better measure employment benefits using estimable parameters. Guidance is provided on measuring policy-induced labor demand, estimating the demand shock’s impact on labor market outcomes, and translating …

An Analysis Of Risk-Taking Behavior For Public Defined Benefit Pension Plans, Nancy Mohan, Ting Zhang

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper investigates the determinants of public pension plan risk-taking behavior using the percentage of total plan assets invested in the equity markets and the pension asset beta as measures of investment risk. We find that government accounting standards strongly affect public fund investment risk, as higher return assumptions (used to discount pension liabilities) are associated with higher equity allocation and beta. Unlike private pension plans, public funds undertake more risk if they are underfunded and have lower investment returns in the previous years, consistent with the risk transfer hypothesis. Furthermore, pension funds in states facing financial constraints allocate more …

Pension Reform: How Have Workers Fared?, Edward N. Wolff

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Occupational Licensing: Protecting The Public Interest Or Protectionism?, Morris M. Kleiner

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

The issue of the government regulation of occupations involves the role of government in reconciling the special interests of the practitioners with those of society. The strictest form of occupational regulation is occupational licensing which is extensive and growing. In 2008, nearly 30 percent of the workforce was required to hold a license up from around 10 percent in 1970. There are potential job loss implications in the growth of occupational licensing for the labor market and the economy. An alternative form of regulation, the certification of occupations, which does not impose a "closed shop" on entry and mobility, may …

What Do Indexes Of Consumer Confidence Tell Us?, Marta Lachowska

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Employer Health Insurance Offering On The Growth And Survival Of Small Business, Adela Luque, C. J. Krizan, Alice Zawacki

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

The Efficiency Of A Group-Specific Mandated Benefit Revisited: The Effect Of Infertility Mandates, Joanna N. Lahey

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper examines the labor market effects of state health insurance mandates that increase the cost of employing a demographically identifiable group. State mandates requiring that health insurance plans cover infertility treatment raise the relative cost of insuring older women of child-bearing age. Empirically, wages in this group are unaffected, but their total labor input decreases. Workers do not value infertility mandates at cost, and so will not take wage cuts in exchange, leading employers to decrease their demand for this affected and identifiable group. Differences in the empirical effects of mandates found in the literature are explained by a …

The Lack Of Persistence Of Employee Contributions To Their 401(K) Plans May Lead To Insufficient Retirement Savings, Leslie A. Muller, John A. Turner

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

Many workers save for retirement through 401(k) plans. This study addresses the concern that low account balances of older workers may indicate that these vehicles are not sufficient to insure adequate retirement savings. In particular, the study shows that while they are accumulating these plans, workers are not persistent in contributing, and a weak stock market exacerbates the problem.

Inertia does not seem to hold for 401(k) saving behavior. Furthermore, the investment strategy of dollar cost averaging does not seem to hold, either. Using four biennial waves of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) covering a six-year …

The Persistence Of Employee 401(K) Contributions Over A Major Stock Market Cycle: Evidence On The Limited Power Of Inertia On Savings Behavior, Leslie A. Muller, John A. Turner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Many middle-income workers save for retirement through 401(k) plans. This study addresses the concern that low account balances of older workers may indicate that these vehicles are not sufficient to insure adequate retirement savings. In particular, the study shows that workers are not persistent (continuing once a worker has started) in contributing, and a weak stock market exacerbates the problem.
The study suggests that the concept of inertia, which is in vogue in behavioral economics, does not seem to hold for 401(k) saving behavior. Furthermore, the investment strategy of dollar cost averaging does not seem to hold, either. Using panel …

Employer-Provided Health Insurance And Labor Supply Of Married Women, Merve Cebi

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This work presents new evidence on the effect of husbands’ health insurance on wives’ labor supply. Previous cross-sectional studies have estimated a significant negative effect of spousal coverage on wives’ labor supply. However, these estimates potentially suffer from bias due to the simultaneity of wives’ labor supply and the health insurance status of their husbands. This paper attempts to obtain consistent estimates by using several panel data methods. In particular, the likely correlation between unobserved personal characteristics of husbands and wives—such as preferences for work—and potential joint job choice decisions can be controlled by using panel data on intact marriages. …

Longevity Policy: Facing Up To Longevity Issues Affecting Social Security, Pensions, And Older Workers, John A. Turner

Upjohn Press

Turner argues that public policy should recognize longevity policy as a distinct policy area. Rather than separately treating issues raised by life expectancy (e.g., Social Security, pensions, older workers), a unified approach should be developed that recognizes their interrelationship.

Imagining The Ideal Pension System: International Perspectives, Dana M. Muir Editor, John A. Turner Editor

Upjohn Press

Muir and Turner gather an international roster of pension experts who present what they think would be the ideal pension systems for their countries and why. Those countries include the United States, the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Poland, and Japan.

The Transformation Of The American Pension System: Was It Beneficial For Workers?, Edward N. Wolff

Upjohn Press

The share of Americans with defined contribution pension plans now exceeds the share of those with defined benefit plans. Wolff refers to this as the "great transformation" and it leads him to examine recent evidence to see whether there are winners and losers resulting from this switch away from traditional pension plans.