Table 2.
Relative Effectiveness of Interventions Targeting Retirement Savings
| Article | Intervention type | Treatment | Impact | Cost | Relative effectiveness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carroll, Choi, Laibson, Madrian, & Metrick (2009) | Nudge | New employees at a company were required to indicate their preferred contribution rate in a workplace retirement-savings plan within their first month of employment. | $200 increase in savings-plan contributions per employeea | $2 per employee for distributing the form and for following up with employees who did not respond | $100 increase in savings-plan contributions per $1 spenta |
| Chetty, Friedman, Leth-Petersen, Nielsen, & Olsen (2014) | Traditional (financial incentive) | The Danish government changed the tax deduction for contributions to one type of pension account for the roughly 20% of earners who were in the top tax bracket. | $540 (27) change in contributions to the affected pension account per person affected | $195 change in government revenue per person affected | $2.77 (0.14) change in contributions to the affected pension account per $1 spent |
| Duflo & Saez (2003) | Traditional (education) | Monetary inducements were offered to employees of a large university for attending a benefits fair where they would receive information about the retirement savings plan. | $58.95 increase in savings-plan contributions per employeea | $4.04 per employee for monetary inducements | $14.58 increase in savings-plan contributions per $1 spenta |
| Duflo, Gale, Liebman, Orszag, & Saez (2006) | Traditional (financial incentive) | Clients preparing a tax return at offices in low- and middle-income neighborhoods in St. Louis, Missouri, were offered 20%, 50%, or no matching contributions for the first $1,000 of additional contributions to a retirement savings account. | 20% match: $93.6 (9.0) in incremental contributions per person; 50% match: $244.5 (12.8) in incremental contributions per person | 20% match: $16.70 in matching dollars per person; 50% match: $82.40 in matching dollars per person | 20% match: $5.59 (0.54) increase in contributions per $1 spent; 50% match: $2.97 (0.16) increase in contributions per $1 spent |
| Duflo, Gale, Liebman, Orszag, & Saez (2007) | Traditional (financial incentive) | The U.S. federal government increased the tax credit on the first $2,000 of retirement savings from 20% to 50% when adjusted gross income dropped below a specified threshold. | $11.6 (1.00) increase in retirement-account contributions per person | $9.35 increase in tax credits per person | $1.24 (0.11) increase in retirement-account contributions per $1 spent |
Note: Standard errors are reported in parentheses. Standard errors for the relative-effectiveness measure were calculated by scaling the standard errors for the overall impact by the cost of the intervention, ignoring any uncertainty regarding the cost of the intervention.
a
For this estimate, standard errors could not be calculated using the information reported.