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  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2011
  5. Crash and Wait? The Impact of the Great Recession on the Retirement Plans of Older Americans

Crash and Wait? The Impact of the Great Recession on the Retirement Plans of Older Americans

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Abstract

This study uses data from pre- and post-crash surveys from the Cognitive Economics study to examine the impact of recent stock and labor market wealth losses on the planned retirement ages of older Americans. Regression estimates imply that the average wealth loss between July 2008 and May/June 2009 is associated with an increase in planned retirement age of approximately 2.5 months. Furthermore, pessimism about future stock market returns is found to amplify the impact of wealth losses on retirement timing.

Citation

Helppie McFall, Brooke. 2011. "Crash and Wait? The Impact of the Great Recession on the Retirement Plans of Older Americans." American Economic Review, 101 (3): 40-44. DOI: 10.1257/aer.101.3.40

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D14 Personal Finance
  • E12 General Aggregative Models: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian
  • J14 Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-labor Market Discrimination
  • J26 Retirement; Retirement Policies