From Can Informational Interventions Be Effective Policy Tools? An Initial Assessment of the Social Security Statement by Barbara A. Smith, published in the Social Security Bulletin:
The Social Security Administration employs an informational intervention—mailing Social Security Statements—to inform workers about their potential benefits. I use linear probability models and agency administrative data to analyze the effect of Statement receipt on the age at which workers claim their Social Security retirement benefits. I compare results for individuals who received one or multiple Statement mailings by age 62 with those who received none during the 1975–2007 study period. I find that workers who received multiple Statement mailings were significantly more likely to claim retirement benefits at later ages than were other workers, and that Statement receipt is positively associated with employment at ages 62–70. I also compare the relative effects of an educational outreach (Statement mailings) and a direct policy change (involving the full retirement age) on claiming behavior and find that the magnitudes of the two effects are similar.
6 comments:
I just thought they could not afford to retire because they didnt plan properly when working.
@ 11:37, yes, never let life get in the way of proper planning!
Raising children, caring for an ill parent or spouse, divorce, widowhood, abandonment can all affect your life plan. Even when it hasn't affected you personally, talk to the public you serve.
Seems the study ended in 2007, before the economy took a dive in 08-09.
12:10 and the economy recovered and exceeded since then.
Life happens, you have to prepare for it. You can be an ant or a grasshopper.
Everyone has the right to fail.
@12:57
Our economy is built on grasshoppers. Why do you hate America?
The practice of mailing statements has been reduced/eliminated (cost savings)with the emphasis on workers viewing their own earnings record and benefit estimate via My Social Security on line.
Anyone who has actually taken retirement claims understands that economic factors, the benefit growth rate, a person's ability to continue working past 62, life expectancy, individual demands (i.e. caring for a spouse or children) and so many inherently personal factors drive this decision. It is hard to see how this research is relevant at a time when the agency is dying under policies that impede service during this pandemic.
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