@article {10581,
	title = {How Reliant are Older Americans on State and Local Government Pensions?},
	number = {WP 2019-399},
	year = {2019},
	type = {Report},
	abstract = {State and local government pension plans cover about 19.5 million participants, and many participants are heavily reliant on these pensions for retirement income. Most of these plans, however, are underfunded. Based on data from the Health and Retirement Study, we examined the lifetime work histories of those observed at ages 67 to 72 in 2004, 2008, or 2014. Seventy-seven percent of single persons and 61 percent of couple households had never worked for state or local (S\&L) government. Among those single and couple households who did work for S\&L government, we found that they have on average more years of education and more economic resources. Among currently retired and near-retirement households, we compared economic preparation for retirement according to their lifetime employment in the S\&L sector, and we examined how economic preparation would be affected if pension benefits were cut. Based on stochastic simulations, which account for uncertainty about length of life and out-of-pocket medical expenditures, we found that economic preparation for retirement among those with S\&L government work histories would only be modestly reduced if their pension income were cut. Under a 50 percent cut to all pension income of households with any S\&L sector work, only an additional three to four percent of these households would no longer be prepared for retirement. The change is modest because households with S\&L employment have better preparation than other households; some of the cuts are paid for by reduced taxes; and the affected households will bequeath less.},
	url = {https://mrdrc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/how-reliant-are-older-americans-on-state-and-local-government-pensions/},
	author = {Philip Armour and Michael D Hurd and Susann Rohwedder}
}
@article {8953,
	title = {Heterogeneity in spending change at retirement.},
	journal = {Journal of the Economics of Ageing},
	volume = {1-2},
	year = {2013},
	month = {2013 Nov},
	pages = {60-71},
	abstract = {<p>The simple one-good model of life-cycle consumption requires that consumption be continuous over retirement; yet prior research based on partial measures of consumption or on synthetic panels indicates that spending drops at retirement, a result that has been called the retirement-consumption puzzle. Using panel data on total spending, nondurable spending and food spending, we find that spending declines at small rates at retirement, rates that could be explained by mechanisms such as the cessation of work-related expenses, unexpected retirement due to a health shock or by the substitution of time for spending. We find substantial heterogeneity in spending change at retirement: in the upper half of the wealth distribution spending increased. In the low-wealth population where spending did decline at higher rates, the main explanation for the decline appears to be early retirement due to poor health, possibly augmented by a short planning horizon by a minority of the population.</p>},
	keywords = {Older Adults, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction},
	issn = {2212-828X},
	doi = {10.1016/j.jeoa.2013.09.002},
	author = {Michael D Hurd and Susann Rohwedder}
}
