AN NBER PUBLICATION ISSUE: No. 2, July 2023

The Bulletin on Retirement and Disability

A free digital quarterly summarizing research in the NBER's Retirement and Disability Research Center
Pandemic Mortality Differentials and the Racial and Ethnic Wealth Gap
Pandemic Mortality Differentials and the Racial and Ethnic Wealth Gap
Mortality rates among Black Americans are substantially higher than rates among White Americans. Factors linked to structural racism contribute to this outcome, including differences in health care access and quality, poverty, education, neighborhood, and lifestyle. While the racial mortality gap has narrowed over time, there was a sharp widening of the differential during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disparities in mortality play a key role in accounting for racial and...

In This Issue

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Retirement Outcomes: Impacts of Outreach
Do Married Couples Coordinate Their Retirement Savings Efficiently?

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Also in This Issue

This figure is a vertical bar graph titled Preferred Method of Communication about Social Security Benefits among Non-Retirees. The y-axis represents a share. It is labeled in percentages, ranging from 0 to 100 percent, increasing in increments of 20. The x-axis has 6 categories of labels, that read from left to right: Information mailed by SSA to my home, Information provided at my place of work, Information posted in community spaces, Web-based tutorials by SSA on YouTube, SSA smartphone app, Public serv
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Retirement Outcomes: Impacts of Outreach
Article
Workers need to prepare for their future as retirees. This is a complex task that is influenced by workers’ retirement knowledge, financial literacy, preferences, expectations, and opportunities.  In Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Retirement Outcomes: Impacts of Outreach (NBER Working Paper 30456), researchers Angelino Viceisza, Amaia Calhoun, and Gabriella Lee review literature on disparities in retirement outcomes and the potential for outreach and service...
This is a vertical bar graph titled Fraction of Couples Who Increase Employer Match by Reallocating Retirement Contributions. It is subtitled, In real couples vs. synthetic couples with randomly assigned partners. The y-axis represents a fraction, given in percentages. It ranges from 0 to 40 percent, increasing in increments of 10. The x-axis is has 3 labels that read from left to right: Real couples, Randomly paired married persons, Randomly paired single persons.
Do Married Couples Coordinate Their Retirement Savings Efficiently?
Article
As nearly two-thirds of US civilian workers have access to an employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) plan, workers’ decisions as to whether and how much to contribute to their DC plans have important consequences for their retirement security. Most employers offer a “match,” where the employer’s contribution to the plan depends on the employee’s contribution, though the match rate and the amount of contributions eligible to be matched vary across employers. An...

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