Incorporating Employee Heterogeneity into Default Rules for Retirement Plan Selection
研究一家公司从固定收益计划转向固定缴款计划时，根据年龄差异设置不同默认计划的效果，发现默认规则使选择默认计划的概率提高60个百分点，并证明根据员工特征调整默认规则可显著提升福利。
We study the effect of incorporating heterogeneity into default rules by examining the choice between retirement plans at a firm that transitioned from a defined benefit (DB) to a defined contribution (DC) plan. The default plan for existing employees varied discontinuously depending on their age. Employing regression discontinuity techniques, we find that the default increased the probability of enrollment in the default plan by 60 percentage points. We develop a framework to solve for the optimal default rule analytically and numerically and find that considerable welfare gains are possible if defaults vary by observable characteristics.