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Several states require employers who do not offer retirement benefits to automatically enroll their employees in individual retirement accounts (IRAs). We quantify the welfare effects of this program for individuals who follow a rule‐of‐thumb to make savings decisions. We find workers who save more than 3% would be willing to give up 0%–1.4% of lifetime consumption to avoid an IRA. We also consider a fully rational model with credit frictions, stochastic income and pre‐retirement withdrawals, and costly IRA opt‐outs. We find that being enrolled in an IRA is most likely to benefit workers who do not borrow during the life‐cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the development and utilization of solar energy is a practical way to alleviate the energy crisis and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. Recently, interest has arisen in the dual-functional active solar thermal façade (ASTF) system that produces hot water throughout the whole year and reduces cooling and heating load as a function of the building façade. Here, a mathematical model of the ASTF system is built and validated by the experimental data, and the annual performance of the ASTF system in representative cities in three climate regions is evaluated. The results are that compared with the common solar water system, the ASTF system adds passive energy savings, which accounts for 5.8%, 7.2% and 11.4% of the total primary energy savings of the system for Shanghai, Beijing and Lanzhou. Compared with the traditional wall, the ASTF saves 16.4% and 23.0% of cooling energy consumption and 102.3% and 92.4% of heating energy consumption for Shanghai and Beijing, respectively. Additionally, it saves 74.7% of heating energy consumption for Lanzhou. Lastly, the impact of the design parameters and operation parameters of the system are investigated, respectively. This study demonstrates a viable path to promoting cost-effective active solar thermal façades in different climates, and the results can be beneficial to further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the development and utilization of solar energy is a practical way to alleviate the energy crisis and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. Recently, interest has arisen in the dual-functional active solar thermal façade (ASTF) system that produces hot water throughout the whole year and reduces cooling and heating load as a function of the building façade. Here, a mathematical model of the ASTF system is built and validated by the experimental data, and the annual performance of the ASTF system in representative cities in three climate regions is evaluated. The results are that compared with the common solar water system, the ASTF system adds passive energy savings, which accounts for 5.8%, 7.2% and 11.4% of the total primary energy savings of the system for Shanghai, Beijing and Lanzhou. Compared with the traditional wall, the ASTF saves 16.4% and 23.0% of cooling energy consumption and 102.3% and 92.4% of heating energy consumption for Shanghai and Beijing, respectively. Additionally, it saves 74.7% of heating energy consumption for Lanzhou. Lastly, the impact of the design parameters and operation parameters of the system are investigated, respectively. This study demonstrates a viable path to promoting cost-effective active solar thermal façades in different climates, and the results can be beneficial to further research.

Low saving rates combined with low effective retirement age herald old-age poverty. This paper examines the preferred strategies of future Polish pensioners in order to sustain the standard of living in the future. A two-step approach is used: as a first-best strategy, we explore determinants of supplementary saving with binary logistic models; as a second-best strategy, we examine alternative options with principal component analysis. Future retirees rarely accumulate long-term savings, do not use dedicated instruments, and they start to save additionally far too late. Savings are concentrated in wealthier and better educated groups. Such myopia is governed by their political stance and not by awareness of dire prospects. Second-best strategies are based on optimistic assumptions about future health (seeking for additional jobs), on the assumed generosity of acquaintances or social institutions (relying on external assistance), or on rebelling. Given the increasing political power of elder generations, balancing the interests of workers and retirees will be an increasingly difficult task for policy makers.

Saving is essential to the health of economies and households, yet relatively little scholarship investigates saving behaviors among the urban working class in the nineteenth century. This chapter uses five surveys of industrial workers in 1880s New Jersey, an analysis of which reveals sophisticated saving behaviors consistent with life-cycle and precautionary theories. The mean saving rate was between 8% and 12% of annual income. Younger households saved less than older households. Householders with longer expected careers, on average, saved less. Life insurance and fraternal societies were the most popular saving vehicles, but workers also used savings banks and building and loan associations, alone and in combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective design and regulation of retirement benefits require accurate understanding of how the elderly decumulate. We analyse the income, assets and decumulation patterns of a longitudinal panel of 10,000 Australian age pensioners. On average, age pensioners preserve financial and residential wealth and leave substantial bequests. There is, however, considerable heterogeneity in decumulation patterns. Younger households generally run down financial wealth, while older households maintain their assets or save. Means-testing accelerates decumulation, with average drawdown rates 3% higher for pensioners subject to the income test relative to full pensioners and 9% higher for those subject to the asset test relative to full pensioners. Loss of a partner is linked to large falls in assets. The theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use comparable data from the US and England to examine similarities and differences in the level and trajectories of assets among households aged 70 and over. We find that in the US assets on average decline gradually with age, while in England older households actually accumulate wealth. These differences appear to be driven largely, though not entirely, by housing wealth: over the period we consider, house price growth drove increases in housing wealth in England that more than offset the slow drawdown of non-housing wealth. This suggests the illiquid nature of housing is likely to be an important factor in explaining wealth drawdown at older ages. We also consider the potential importance of bequest motives and savings to insure against the risk of medical and long-term care expenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the distributional effects of parametric social security reforms and saving in Turkey. It states that the important difference between retires and workers can address the negative effects of wealth redistribution on national saving in terms of the marginal propensity to consume (MPC). It says that the present parametric reforms must contribute to the negative trend in national saving.

The author presents a study which analyzes the sustainability of the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) system in Turkey. The empirical target of the study is to examine the existence of theoretical ambiguity in time-series models for the country. According to the author, an unsustainable PAYGO system results to a generous social security wealth and uncertainty about the wealth. The conclusion of the study is that negative influence of expectations on consumption and decreasing dependency ratios presents an empirical ambiguity to the literature.

This paper explores how retirement timing, together with life-cycle saving and human capital investment in children, responds to rising longevity in a recursive model with altruistic agents. We find that rising longevity raises the retirement age. If initial life expectancy is not too high, rising longevity also raises human capital investment in children and the saving rate. Through these channels, rising longevity can be conducive to long-run economic growth. A binding mandatory retirement age reduces human capital investment and the growth rate, raises the saving rate, and reduces welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low saving rates combined with low effective retirement age herald old-age poverty. This paper examines the preferred strategies of future Polish pensioners in order to sustain the standard of living in the future. A two-step approach is used: as a first-best strategy, we explore determinants of supplementary saving with binary logistic models; as a second-best strategy, we examine alternative options with principal component analysis. Future retirees rarely accumulate long-term savings, do not use dedicated instruments, and they start to save additionally far too late. Savings are concentrated in wealthier and better educated groups. Such myopia is governed by their political stance and not by awareness of dire prospects. Second-best strategies are based on optimistic assumptions about future health (seeking for additional jobs), on the assumed generosity of acquaintances or social institutions (relying on external assistance), or on rebelling. Given the increasing political power of elder generations, balancing the interests of workers and retirees will be an increasingly difficult task for policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]