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Improving understanding of the retirement earnings test

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2019

Lila Rabinovich  and
Francisco Perez-Arce
Lila Rabinovich
Affiliation:
Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Washington, DC, USA
Francisco Perez-Arce*
Affiliation:
Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Washington, DC, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: perezarc@usc.edu
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Abstract

This paper presents results from an online experiment that tested the effect of simple, concise information on respondents' knowledge of the rules of Social Security's Retirement Earnings Test (RET). We find that a straightforward, simple information treatment has a large effect on knowledge of the RET and on prospective choices regarding working and claiming benefits. We tested two additional information treatments that provided more comprehensive information and used illustrative examples. One of the additional treatments used only text, while the other one included a visual tool. Our results suggest that the additional treatments did not further improve knowledge; the simplest intervention yielded the same effect as the more comprehensive ones.

Keywords

Claiming decisionlabor supplyretirement earnings testsocial securityH55D91C93

Information

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Pension Economics & Finance , Volume 20 , Special Issue 4: New Longitudinal Data for Retirement Analysis and Policy , October 2021 , pp. 496 - 503
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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