Do Tax Deferred Accounts Improve Lifecycle Savings? Experimental Evidence
通过个体决策实验，研究了税收递延账户对退休储蓄的影响，发现其显著增加退休财富，主要机制是强制先决定储蓄再消费，而提供税务计算器教育效果甚微。
Abstract In an individual decision-making experiment, we investigate the impact of Tax Deferred Accounts (TDAs). We design six treatments to study various channels through which TDAs may affect decisions. Across both student and Mturk samples, we consistently find that TDAs significantly increase retirement wealth compared to environments with only one non-tax advantaged, liquid saving account. This increase is primarily explained by the requirement of making retirement savings decisions precede consumption decisions. Educating participants by providing a tax calculator has minimal effects. Our results highlight the effectiveness of TDAs in enhancing retirement preparedness and the significance of the order of consumption/savings decisions.