How Do Retirees Value Life Annuities? Evidence from Public Employees

48 Pages Posted: 23 Mar 2010 Last revised: 12 Feb 2012

See all articles by John Chalmers

John Chalmers

University of Oregon

Jonathan Reuter

Boston College - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 18, 2011

Abstract

Economists have long been puzzled by the low demand for life annuities. To shed new light on this puzzle, we study payout choices in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, where each retiree must choose between a lump sum and a life annuity. Notably, the average life annuity we study is better than actuarially fair when compared to the lump sum and 85% of retirees choose the life annuity. Whether and how retirees respond to variation in the value of life annuity payments depends crucially on the source of variation. We find strong evidence that demand responds to variation in retiree characteristics. In contrast, we find little evidence that demand responds to plausibly exogenous variation in annuity pricing, which is economically meaningful but less salient. Finally, we find robust evidence that demand for the lump sum increases with recent equity market returns and other salient measures of investor sentiment.

Keywords: Retirement, Annuity, Lump sum, Under-annuitization puzzle, Household finance

JEL Classification: H55, D14, G11, G22

Suggested Citation

Chalmers, John and Reuter, Jonathan, How Do Retirees Value Life Annuities? Evidence from Public Employees (December 18, 2011). AFA 2011 Denver Meetings Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1571372 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1571372

John Chalmers

University of Oregon ( email )

Lundquist College of Business
1208 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
United States
541-346-3337 (Phone)

Jonathan Reuter (Contact Author)

Boston College - Department of Finance ( email )

Carroll School of Management
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3808
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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