The Pension Research Council is pleased to announce that our newest volume, Financial Literacy, edited by Olivia S. Mitchell and Annamaria Lusardi, has been published by Oxford University Press! You can learn more about the book from the PRC website and order one from OUP.
January 20, 2012
Bloomberg.com & PRC researchers: Social Security claims at age 62 rising
From the bloomberg.com column “Look at Jobs Before Leaping on Older Retirement” comes a new finding by Pension Research Council researchers Jason J. Fichtner and John W.R. Phillips that the “share of those claiming [Social Security] benefits at age 62… actually rose significantly in 2009.” Click the link above to read the column and see Peter Orszag’s assessment.
January 4, 2012
Marketplace: Keeping an eye on your assets
PRC Executive Director Olivia S. Mitchell was recently interviewed by American Public Media’s Marketplace for their story “Keeping an eye on your assets.”
Dr. Mitchell’s research shows that the retirement outlook for Baby Boomers is bleaker than for their parents’ generation, and the state of Americans’ financial literacy is key. Click here to read the story and see what advice she offers.
October 20, 2011
PRC Special Issue on Financial Literacy in JPEF
The Pension Research Council has a new Special Issue on financial literacy in the Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, and it is now posted online. The introduction and first chapter are by PRC Executive Director Olivia S. Mitchell and Financial Literacy Center Director Annamaria Lusardi. Other chapters cover Italy, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, Japan, and New Zealand. In addition comparative analysis includes studies on financial literacy in Armenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Malaysia, Peru, Poland, UK, and South Africa, as well as Norway.
This volume offers a new understanding of the causes and consequences of financial illiteracy around the world. It shows that financial literacy is very low irrespective of the level of financial market development and the type of pension provision. What this means is that changes in global financial markets have apparently not wrought enhancements in financial knowledge. There are also important sex and age differences common across countries: women uniformly know less – and they know they know less – than do men in terms of financial knowledge. Low levels of financial knowledge in older populations also suggest that these groups may be particularly vulnerable.
This set of studies makes it clear that financial literacy cannot be taken for granted, even in countries with developed financial markets. Indeed, as the long-term shift continues toward individual responsibility for retirement saving, investment, and wealth decumulation after retirement, it is critically important to evaluate which programs can best help people make good financial decisions. Finally, to be effective, financial education programs would be most effective if they are targeted to different population subgroups. In sum, around the world, financial literacy is critical to retirement security.
The entire table of contents appears at: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=PEF&tab=currentissue. All the chapters can be downloaded for free.
September 22, 2011
Retirement Heist? Pensions, Past and Present
PRC Executive Director Olivia S. Mitchell was interviewed by Knowledge@Wharton on the topic “Retirement Heist? Pensions, Past and Present.” Click the topic title to read the full article!
September 16, 2011
Personal Finance Webinar Now Available
Pension Research Council Executive Director Olivia S. Mitchell participated in a “webinar” last week for personal finance journalists hosted by the Financial Literacy Center. The FLC is pleased to share the results:
http://www.rand.org/multimedia/video/2011/09/08/financial-literacy-center-webinar.html
September 9, 2011
Olivia S. Mitchell interviewed by Steve Forbes
Pension Research Council Executive Director Olivia S. Mitchell was interviewed by Steve Forbes recently for the Forbes magazine website. You can watch video of the interview as well as read a transcript by following the link.
June 27, 2011
At the top of the list: Running short.
April’s Gallup Poll shows that two-thirds of Americans say they are more worried about running out of money in retirement than 7 other financial challenges. This new all-time high is up from just over half in 2004. Among people 50-64 years old, the fraction now worried is 87%. One response that some may find useful would be to keep working longer.
June 17, 2011
Special Issue of Journal of Pension Economics and Finance
A special issue of the Journal of Pension Economics and Finance contains 8 papers co-edited by Jeffrey Brown, Robert Clark, and Joshua Rauh on the economics of state and local pension systems. The primary aim of this special issue is to provide greater understanding of the problems facing public retirement plans and to highlight important questions for future research on the economics of public pension systems. With the generous cooperation of Cambridge University Press, we are delighted to be able to provide free access to you to this special issue at http://journals.cambridge.org/jpef/10:02
June 7, 2011
FLatWorld Reports on Financial Literacy
See the new FLatWorld reports reporting on financial literacy — or illiteracy — around the world. In a collection of new papers, we report country- by-country findings as well as overall results overall. Our new research shows that financial literacy is critical to retirement security.
Read about “Financial Literacy around the World” at http://www.financialliteracyfocus.org/academics/FLatW.html
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