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- 2022
- Working Paper
Automating Short-Term Payroll Savings: Initial Evidence from a Large U.K. Experiment
By: Sarah Holmes Berk, John Beshears, James J. Choi and David Laibson
Automatic enrollment is often used to increase retirement plan participation. Can it be used to increase short-term savings as well? We evaluate preliminary data from an experiment at a large U.K. employer. After years of offering opt-in short-term payroll savings via...
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- July 2022
- Case
Building a Mishap-Free U.S. Navy
In 2021, Kevin “Bud” Couch, a retired Navy captain who was now working as a civilian employee of the Navy Safety Center, was trying to determine how best to reduce the risk of Navy mishaps. The Navy had experienced a series of major mishaps in 2017 that had led to a...
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Keywords:
National Security;
Safety;
War;
Ship Transportation;
Risk Management;
Operations;
Singapore;
Tokyo;
San Diego
- July 2022
- Article
What Do I Make of the Rest of My Life? Global and Quotidian Life Construal across the Retirement Transition
By: Jeff Steiner and Teresa M. Amabile
Retirement means relinquishing the daily structure that work provides and the career-dependent meanings that it offers life narratives. The retirement transition can therefore involve contemplating both how to spend newly-freed daily time and the implications of...
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- 2022
- Article
How to Choose a Default
By: John Beshears, Richard T. Mason and Shlomo Benartzi
We have developed a model for setting a default when a population is choosing among ordered choices—that is, ones listed in ascending or descending order. A company, for instance, might want to set a default contribution rate that will increase employees’ average...
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- Article
Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Peter Maxted
Present bias causes procrastination, which leads households to stick with auto-enrollment defaults. However, present bias also engenders overconsumption. Separation from each employer generates a rollover of 401(k) balances to an individual retirement account (IRA)...
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- February 2022
- Article
Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and William L. Skimmyhorn
Does automatic enrollment into a retirement plan increase financial distress due to increased borrowing outside the plan? We study a natural experiment created when the U.S. Army began automatically enrolling newly hired civilian employees into the Thrift Savings Plan....
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- 2021
- Working Paper
What Drives Variation in Investor Portfolios? Evidence from Retirement Plans
We study empirical patterns in investment behavior using a comprehensive data set of defined contribution plans. Using plan-level portfolio allocation data for the near universe of 401(k) plans over the period 2009–2019, we document substantial differences in...
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- November 2021
- Article
The Effects of Retirement on Sense of Purpose in Life: Crisis or Opportunity?
By: Ayse Yemiscigil, Nattavudh Powdthavee and Ashley V. Whillans
Does retirement lead to an existential crisis or present an opportunity to experience a renewed sense of purpose in life? Prior research has documented a negative association between retirement and sense of purpose in life, suggesting that retirement could lead people...
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- Article
Using Fresh Starts to Nudge Increased Retirement Savings
By: John Beshears, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman and Shlomo Benartzi
We conducted a field experiment to study the effect of framing future moments in time as new beginnings (or “fresh starts”). University employees (N=6,082) received mailings with an opportunity to choose between increasing their contributions to a savings plan...
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- August 2021
- Supplement
Dirk Nowitzki: Changing the Game
By: Boris Groysberg
NBA Superstar Dirk Nowitzki was unsure whether the 2018–2019 season would be his last as an NBA player. He had not faced such uncertainty since 1998, when he had navigated a difficult decision regarding the timing of his move to the NBA. He also did not know what he...
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- August 2021
- Article
The Undervalued Power of Self-relevant Research: The Case of Researching Retirement While Retiring
By: Teresa M. Amabile and Douglas T. (Tim) Hall
For decades, training in management research has emphasized objectivity, typically viewed as an arm’s length distance between the topic of the research and the interests of the researcher. This emphasis has led most scholars to avoid research topics of deep personal...
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- April 2021
- Case
Glass-Shattering Leaders: Ilene H. Lang
By: Boris Groysberg and Colleen Ammerman
Ilene Lang started her career in technology at a time when the tech sector was new and women had only recently entered the workplace in large numbers. Over the next thirty years, she built a career spanning large and small tech companies, leading global teams and...
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- January 2021 (Revised February 2021)
- Case
Carnival Corporation: Cruising Through COVID-19
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott
In March 2020, in response to the global pandemic, the cruise industry ceased operations. Carnival was the largest cruise line operator in the world, and CEO Arnold Donald and his management team worked to position the company to survive. They slashed operating...
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- January 2021
- Case
The FIRE Savings Calculator
By: Michael Parzen and Paul Hamilton
This case follows Carol Muñoz, a member of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) lifestyle movement. At the age of 45, Carol is considering retiring and living off the $1 million she has accumulated. Using Monte Carlo simulation, Carol forecasts the...
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- September 2020
- Case
Wladimir Klitschko: F.A.C.E. Your Challenges
By: Boris Groysberg, Michael Norris and Carin-Isabel Knoop
In 2020, Olympic goal medal winning boxer and former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko had built himself a “second ring” to continue his career after retiring from professional boxing. He was a hotelier, boxing promoter, author, teacher, speaker, and had...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
Conflicting Interests and the Effect of Fiduciary Duty—Evidence from Variable Annuities
By: Mark Egan, Shan Ge and Johnny Tang
We examine the drivers of variable annuity sales and the impact of a proposed regulatory change. Variable annuities are popular retirement products with over $2 trillion in assets in the United States. Insurers typically pay brokers a commission for selling variable...
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- August 2020 (Revised December 2020)
- Case
General Dennis L. Via: People First, Mission Always
By: Boris Groysberg, Susan Seligson, Katherine Connolly Baden and Robin Abrahams
Dennis L. Via, was a retired four-star U.S. Army general and one of the world’s foremost experts on logistics, crisis management, supply chains, and maintaining a state of readiness at all times. As he reflected back on his career and leadership experience during the...
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- August 2020
- Article
Volunteering and Subsequent Health and Well-Being in Older Adults: An Outcome-Wide Longitudinal Approach
By: Eric Kim, A.V. Whillans, Matt Lee, Ying Chen and Tyler VanderWeele
Background: Growing evidence documents strong associations between volunteering and favorable health and well-being outcomes. However, epidemiological studies have not evaluated whether changes in volunteering are associated with subsequent health and well-being...
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- July 2020 (Revised September 2020)
- Case
The Honor Foundation: Accessing Special Operations Talent
By: Boris Groysberg and John Masko
In 2020, The Honor Foundation (THF), a nonprofit dedicated to helping U.S. military special operators to transition into civilian careers, was facing a series of strategic challenges. THF had been founded in 2013 by former Navy SEAL trainee Joe Musselman, who observed...
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Keywords:
Experience and Expertise;
Talent and Talent Management;
Curriculum and Courses;
Executive Education;
Social Entrepreneurship;
National Security;
Recruitment;
Retention;
Job Interviews;
Job Search;
Knowledge Use and Leverage;
Leadership Development;
Leadership Style;
Crisis Management;
Mission and Purpose;
Retirement;
Nonprofit Organizations;
War;
Education Industry;
San Diego;
Virginia
- 2022
- Working Paper
Optimal Illiquidity
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Christopher Clayton, Christopher Harris, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We calculate the socially optimal level of illiquidity in an economy populated by households with taste shocks and naive present bias. The government chooses mandatory contributions to accounts, each witha different pre-retirement withdrawal penalty. Collected...
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Keywords:
Illiquidity;
Commitment;
Flexibility;
Savings;
Social Security;
Retirement;
Government Legislation;
Taxation;
Saving