Do Employer Pension Contributions Reflect Employee Preferences? Evidence from a Retirement Savings Reform in Denmark

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

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.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAmerican Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Volume8
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)196-216
Number of pages21
ISSN1945-7782
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2016

Bibliographical note

JEL D14, J26, J32

ID: 131546398