Will They Take the Money and Work? An Empirical Analysis of People's Willingness to Delay Claiming Social Security Benefits for a Lump Sum / Raimond Maurer, Olivia S. Mitchell, Ralph Rogalla, Tatjana Schimetschek.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maurer, Raimond.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Mitchell, Olivia S.

Rogalla, Ralph.

Schimetschek, Tatjana.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w20614.

NBER working paper series no. w20614

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2014.

Summary:

This paper investigates whether exchanging the Social Security delayed retirement credit (currently paid as an increase in lifetime annuity benefits) for a lump sum would induce later claiming and additional work. We show that people would voluntarily claim about half a year later if the lump sum were paid for claiming any time after the Early Retirement Age, and about two-thirds of a year later if the lump sum were paid only for those claiming after their Full Retirement Age. Overall, people will work one-third to one-half of the additional months, compared to the status quo. Those who would currently claim at the youngest ages are likely to be most responsive to the offer of a lump sum benefit.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2014.