Determinants of Saving in 401(k) Plans

描述（由申请人提供）：我们建立了一个数据库，记录了参加雇主赞助的40l (k)计划的个人雇员的储蓄和投资决策。我们的数据库包含对28家大公司超过100万名员工的重复年度横断面观察。对于其中的八家公司，我们也有详细的纵向数据，记录了这些公司员工进行的每笔储蓄和资产配置交易——在过去的九年里，大约有1.7亿笔交易。利用这些数据，我们计划进行广泛的研究，分析个人401(k)储蓄和投资选择的决定因素。我们的研究考虑了经济激励的影响，如雇主匹配，以及心理因素的影响，如储蓄和投资选择的框架，违约的影响，以及拖延的原因。我们的研究还评估了强制员工考虑退休储蓄决定的机构的影响。我们研究了广泛的401(k)结果，包括参与、储蓄率、交易频率、资产配置、贷款和现金分配。我们的大部分研究都是通过比较401(k)计划规则改变前后公司参与者的行为来确定制度制度的影响。我们的研究将确定401(k)计划中储蓄和资产配置选择的决定因素，并可能与相关的退休储蓄计划（如个人社会保障账户）相关。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We have built a database that records the savings and investment decisions of individual employees who have access to employer-sponsored 40 l(k) plans. Our database contains repeated annual cross-sectional observations on over 1 million employees at 28 large corporations. For eight of these firms, we also have detailed longitudinal data on every saving and asset allocation transaction conducted by individual employees at these firms--approximately 170 million transactions over the past nine years. Using these data, we plan to undertake a wide range of studies that analyze the determinants of individuals' 401(k) savings and investment choices. Our studies consider the impact of economic incentives like employer matching and of psychological factors like the framing of saving and investment choices, the impact of defaults, and the causes of procrastination. Our research also evaluates the effect of institutions that force employees to think about their retirement saving decisions. We examine a wide range of 401(k) outcomes, including participation, savings rates, trading frequency, asset allocation, loans, and cash distributions. Most of our research identifies the effect of institutional regimes by comparing participant behavior at a firm before and after a rule change in the 401(k) plan. Our research will identify the determinants of saving and asset allocation choices in 401(k) plans and may be relevant for related retirement savings plans, like individual Social Security accounts.