Do Employer Pension Contributions Reflect Employee Preferences? Evidence from a Retirement Savings Reform in Denmark
利用丹麦一项降低高收入员工资本养老金账户补贴的改革，研究发现雇主会根据员工的储蓄偏好调整养老金缴款，且调整幅度与受影响员工比例相关。
This paper studies how firms set contributions to employer provided 401(k)-type pension plans. Using a reform that decreased the subsidy to contributions to capital pension accounts for Danish workers in the top income tax bracket, we provide strong evidence that employers' contributions are based on their employees' savings preferences. We find an immediate decrease in employer contributions to capital accounts, whose magnitude increased in the share of employees directly affected by the reform. This response was large relative to average employee responses within private IRA-type plans and was accompanied by a similar magnitude shift of employer contributions to annuity accounts.