Skandia Award 2019 Behavioral Economics and Retirement Savings Outcomes
In this seminar, Professor Madrian examined the implications of behavioral economics for several different retirement savings outcomes, including who does or does not save, how much individuals save, their asset allocation, and how they draw down assets in retirement.
These outcomes are heavily influenced by factors such as present bias, anchoring, inattention, and by various elements of choice architecture including the default option and the number of alternatives from which individuals can choose.
Professor Madrian discussed how these factors influence retirement savings outcomes, and how policy makers can use an understanding of these findings in the design of retirement savings policies.
Moderator: Magnus Dahlquist, Swedish House of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics.
Brigitte C. Madrian is the Dean and Marriott Distinguished Professor in the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business where she has a joint appointment in the Department of Finance and the George W. Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics. Before coming to BYU, she was on the faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School (2006-2018), the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School (2003-2006), the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1995-2003) and the Harvard University Economics Department (1993-1995). She is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and served as co-director of the NBER Household Finance working group from 2010-2018.
Dr. Madrian’s current research focuses on behavioral economics and household finance, with a particular focus on household saving and investment behavior. Her work in this area has impacted the design of employer-sponsored savings plans in the U.S. and has influenced pension reform legislation both in the U.S. and abroad. She also uses the lens of behavioral economics to understand health behaviors and improve health outcomes.
Dr. Madrian received her Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and studied economics as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University. She is a recipient of the Retirement Income Industry Association Achievement in Applied Retirement Research Award (2015) and a three-time recipient of the TIAA Paul A. Samuelson Award for Scholarly Research on Lifelong Financial Security (2002, 2011 and 2017).