Liquidity in Retirement Savings Systems: An International Comparison
13 Pages Posted: 18 May 2015
There are 2 versions of this paper
Liquidity in Retirement Savings Systems: An International Comparison
Liquidity in Retirement Savings Systems: An International Comparison
Date Written: May 2015
Abstract
What is the socially optimal level of liquidity in a retirement savings system? Liquid retirement savings are desirable because liquidity enables agents to flexibly respond to pre-retirement events that raise the marginal utility of consumption. On the other hand, pre-retirement liquidity is undesirable when it leads to under-saving arising from, for example, planning mistakes or self-control problems. This paper compares the liquidity that six developed economies have built into their employer-based defined contribution (DC) retirement savings systems. We find that all of them, with the sole exception of the United States, have made their DC systems overwhelmingly illiquid before age 55.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation