title: DO EMPLOYER PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS REFLECT EMPLOYEE PREFERENCES? EVIDENCE FROM A RETIREMENT SAVINGS REFORM IN DENMARK.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0508, La Jolla, CA 92093-0508.
authors.forename: Itzik
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fadlon
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Harvard University, Littauer Center, 1805 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA 02138.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laird
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5 DK 1353 Copenhagen K.
authors.forename: Torben Heien
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Nielsen