Research

PowerPoint presentations

Defined Contribution Plans for Passive Investors
2004 (with David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian)
Summarizes our recommendations for designing defined contribution retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s.

Working papers

$100 Bills on the Sidewalk: Suboptimal Investment in 401(k) Plans
Review of Economics and Statistics, revise and resubmit (with David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian), 2008.

Why Does the Law of One Price Fail? An Experiment on Index Mutual Funds
Review of Financial Studies, revise and resubmit (with David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian), 2008.
Older draft (without Harvard staff sample) summarized in July 2006 NBER Digest
Supplement: Prospectuses used in experiments

How Does Simplified Disclosure Affect Individuals' Mutual Fund Choices?
(with John Beshears, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian), 2008.

Extrapolative Expectations and the Equity Premium
2006.

Simplification and Saving
(with John Beshears, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian), 2006.
Summarized in May 2007 NBER Digest

Journal articles

Reinforcement Learning and Savings Behavior
Journal of Finance (with David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick), forthcoming.

Optimal Defaults and Active Decisions
Quarterly Journal of Economics (with Gabriel D. Carroll, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick), forthcoming.
Summarized in Summer 2005 NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health
Web appendix with proofs is here.
Previous draft with more general model is here.

Mental Accounting in Portfolio Choice: Evidence from a Flypaper Effect
American Economic Review (with David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian), accepted subject to data replication agreement.

How Are Preferences Revealed?
Journal of Public Economics (with John Beshears, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian), 2008.

Early Decisions: A Regulatory Framework
Swedish Economic Policy Review (with John Beshears, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian), 2005.

Are Empowerment and Education Enough? Underdiversification in 401(k) Plans
Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (with David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian), 2005.

Plan Design and 401(k) Savings Outcomes
National Tax Journal (with David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian), 2004.
Summarized in October 2004 NBER Digest

Optimal Defaults
American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings (with David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick), 2003.
A longer version of this paper is "Passive Decisions and Potent Defaults."

How Does the Internet Affect Trading? Evidence from Investor Behavior in 401(k) Plans
Journal of Financial Economics (with David Laibson and Andrew Metrick), 2002.
Summarized in February 2001 NBER Digest

The Value Line Enigma: The Sum of Known Parts?
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2000.

Book chapters

The Impact of Employer Matching on Savings Plan Participation under Automatic Enrollment
Research Findings in the Economics of Aging, David A. Wise, editor, forthcoming (with John Beshears, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian).

Reducing the Complexity Costs of 401(k) Participation Through Quick Enrollment
Developments in the Economics of Aging, David A. Wise, editor, forthcoming (with David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian).

The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States
Lessons from Pension Reform in the Americas, Stephen J. Kay and Tapen Sinha, editors, 2008 (with John Beshears, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian).

Saving for Retirement on the Path of Least Resistance
Behavioral Public Finance: Toward a New Agenda, Ed McCaffrey and Joel Slemrod, editors, 2006 (with David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick).

Employees' Investment Decisions About Company Stock
Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Finance, Olivia S. Mitchell and Stephen P. Utkus, editors, 2004 (with David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick).

For Better or For Worse: Default Effects and 401(k) Savings Behavior
Perspectives in the Economics of Aging, David A. Wise, editor, 2004 (with David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick).
Summarized in April 2002 NBER Digest

Defined Contribution Pensions: Plan Rules, Participant Decisions, and the Path of Least Resistance
Tax Policy and the Economy, James Poterba, editor, 2002 (with David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick).
Summarized in April 2002 NBER Digest