Did 401(k) Plans Replace Other Employer Provided Pensions?

Leslie Papke, Mitchell Petersen and James Poterba

No 4501, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper reports the findings from a new survey of firms that provide 401(k) plans for their employees. Our results suggest that few 401(k) plans replaced pre-existing defined benefit pension plans, although a substantial fraction replaced previous defined contribution thrift and profit sharing plans. Our survey results also provide new evidence on patterns of 401(k) participation. We find significant persistence in firm-level participation rates from one year to the next, which supports the view that 401(k) participants are not making marginal decisions of whether or not to contribute to the plan in a given month, or even year, but rather make long-term commitments to participate in these plans.

JEL-codes: G23 H24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1993-10
Note: AG PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Published as Advances in the Economics of Aging, David A. Wise, editor. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), pp. 219-236.
Published as Do 401(k) Plans Replace Other Employer-Provided Pensions? , Leslie E. Papke, Mitchell A. Petersen, James M. Poterba. in Advances in the Economics of Aging , Wise. 1996

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