The Politics of Automated Retirement Plans

Our guest this week is James Choi. Dr. Choi is a professor of finance at the Yale School of Management, where he teaches and conducts research on behavioral finance and economics, household finance, and sociology, among other topics. He is a two-time recipient of the TIAA Paul A. Samuelson Award for outstanding scholarly writing on lifelong financial security, and his work on automatic enrollment into retirement plans has had a major influence on retirement plan policy and design. Dr. Choi is a co-director of the Retirement and Disability Research Center at the National Bureau of Economic Research and an associate editor of the Journal of Finance, among other professional and scholarly affiliations. He received both his bachelor’s degree and doctorate from Harvard University.

Background

Bio

Retirement and Disability Research Center

Academics vs. Bestsellers

“Popular Personal Financial Advice Versus the Professors,” by James Choi, nber.com, October 2022.

Choice Architecture and Retirement Plan Design

“Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness,” by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, researchgate.net, June 2009.

“Contributions to Defined Contribution Pension Plans,” by James Choi, nber.org, August 2015.

“Small Cues Change Savings Choices,” by James Choi, Emily Haisley, Jennifer Kurkoski, Cade Massey, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, August 2017.

“Plan Design and 401(k) Savings Outcomes,” by James Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte Madrian, National Tax Journal, June 2004.

“Saving for Retirement on the Path of Least Resistance,” by James Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and Andrew Metrick, scholar.harvard.edu., Dec. 1, 2005.

“Which Early Withdrawal Penalty Attracts the Most Deposits to a Commitment Savings Account?” by James Choi, John Beshears, Christopher Harris, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and Jung Sakong, Journal of Public Economics, Feb. 8, 2020.

“Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-Enrollment Savings Effects,” by John Beshears, James Choi, David Laibson, and Peter Maxted, hbs.edu, 2022.

Retirement Readiness and Policy Response

“Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt,” by John Beshears, James Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and William Skimmyhorn, nber.org, July 2019.

“The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions,” by James Choi, John Beshears, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and Katherine Milkman, The Journal of Finance, June 2015.

Emergency Savings

“Building Emergency Savings Through Employer-Sponsored Rainy-Day Savings Accounts,” by John Beshears, James Choi, J. Mark Iwry, David John, David Laibson, and Brigitte Madrian, journals.uchicago.edu, 2020.

Saving, Spending, Investor Behavior

“Economists Confirm It’s Actually OK to not Save Money in Your 20s,” by Sarah Hansen, money.com, Sept. 2, 2022.

“Why Does the Law of One Price Fail? An Experiment on Index Mutual Funds,” by James Choi, Xavier Gabaix, David Laibson, and Brigitte Madrian, nber.org, December 2005.

“Does Aggregated Returns Disclosure Increase Portfolio Risk Taking?” by James Choi, James Beshears, David Laibson, and Brigitte Madrian, National Library of Medicine, Oct. 19, 2016.

Other

“Brigitte Madrian: ‘Inertia Can Actually Be a Helpful Thing,’” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, April 22, 2020.

Morningstar Investment Conference 2023