Abstracct-This paper examines the effects of family participation in an income maintenance program on the school, work, and choices of youth. A joint probability model of school and work outcomes is estimated using data from the Seattle and Denver Income Maintenance Experiments. Among youth age 16 to 21 we find the experimental treatment to be associated with a large reduction in the probability of working. This reduction is offset, at least in part, by an increase in school attendance so the net effect on leisure time is apparently quite small.

The paper analyzes the effect of tax-deferred individual retirement accounts (IRAs) in the United States on net individual saving. The results are based on a model of constrained optimization with the limit on tax-deferred saving the principle constraint. The estimates suggest that contributions to IRAs represent substantial net saving increases. Were the IRA limit to be increased, only about 10 to 20% of resulting increase in IRA contributions would be taken from other savings. About 50% would come from reduced consumption and about 35% from reduced taxes.

The vast majority of Individual Retirement Account contributions represent net new saving, based on evidence from the quarterly Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CES). The results are based on analysis of the relationship between IRA contributions and other financial asset saving. The data show almost no substitution of IRAs for other saving. Estimates are based on a flexible constrained optimization model, with the IRA limit the principal constraint. The implications of this model for saving in the absence of the IRA option match very closely the actual non-IRA financial asset saving behavior prior to 1982. IRA saving does not show up as other financial asset saving in the pre-IRA period.

Contributions to 401(k) plans are now the most important form of retirement saving. Since 401(k) plans were introduced in the early 1980’s, they have expanded rapidly and continuously. By 1998, roughly half of all households were eligible to participate in 401(k) plans, and more than 36 million workers made contributions to these employer-provided saving plans. In 1995, the last year for which the U.S. Department of Labor has released definitive data, 401(k) contributions amounted to $87.4 billion, or 55 percent of all contributions to employer-sponsored pension plans. The level of contributions, and their share of all pension contributions, is probably significantly higher today. The spread of 401(k) plans is the most important indicator of the move to personal retirement saving. In 1980, almost 92 percent of pension-plan contributions were to traditional employer-provided plans, and about 64 percent of these contributions were to conventional defined-benefit plans. Today, almost 60 percent of contributions are to personal retirement accounts, including 401(k), IRA, and Keogh plans. Including employerprovided, non-401(k) defined-contribution plans, over 76 percent of contributions are to plans that are controlled in large measure by individuals. These individuals make participation, contribution, asset-allocation, and withdrawal decisions. In this paper, we describe the likely importance of 401(k) assets for future older Americans and the effect of investment decisions on asset accumulation. We also examine the extent to which retirement assets may be affected by several decisions: preretirement withdrawals, management fees and expenses, contribution rates, and early retirement. Our analysis focuses on 401(k) saving, but applies more broadly to other forms of individual retirement saving.