Research

Working Papers

Declining Defined Benefit Plan Inclusion and the Impact on Savings and Retirement Decisions with Xiaohui Sun and Yang Xuan

To what extent has the transition from traditional defined benefit retirement plans to defined contribution plans in the U.S. influenced the decline in retirement beyond age 65? We empirically estimate differences in retirement timing by retirement plan type and construct a model where enrollment in different plans influences endogenous savings and retirement decisions. The model estimates that the shift towards defined contribution plans alone generated roughly 92% of the decline in retirement among age 65+ individuals observed since the early 1990s. A decomposition reveals that defined benefit plans induce earlier retirement mainly by alleviating risk associated with an uncertain planning horizon (life expectancy).

A Quantitative Theory of Domestic Outsourcing: The Role of Wage-Proportional Staffing Fees (Revise and Resubmit - Journal of Labor Economics)

Domestic labor outsourcing allows individuals to work under the management of a user firm while legally remaining employees of a staffing agency. These staffing agencies provide fast matches while continually charging fees proportional to workers' wages. I show that the staffing fee structure amplifies existing frictions caused by incomplete contracts. Workers in outsourced jobs under-invest in human capital relative to those in non-outsourced jobs, as the staffing fee lowers the return to human capital investment. Despite this under-investment, total utility is higher in an economy with unrestricted outsourcing than without outsourcing, demonstrating that the ability to avoid search frictions via outsourcing outweighs the associated human capital investment disincentives. 

Labor Force Participation, College Enrollment, and the Business Cycle, with Zhifeng Cai 

Incentives to pursue education significantly influence young individuals' labor force participation decisions in the United States. We capture the participation incentives of different age groups in a search model where overlapping generations make college education decisions and experience on-the-job human capital growth. While broadly applied job search subsidies may lower welfare, as they discourage college enrollment and negatively impact human capital in the long run, a subsidy targeting the old can raise overall welfare.

The Life-Cycle Implications of Temporary Employment Contracts (Accepted - AEJ Macro)

Workers with greater job security experience fewer unemployment spells and tend to accumulate more human capital over their careers. I show that policies reducing employment protections boost younger workers’ job-finding rates but lower human capital, GDP, and employment. The impacts of these policies differ significantly by age.

 Other/Older Work

Making the Most of General Purpose Technologies, with Cici McNamara

We develop a framework to study how competition among providers of general purpose technologies affects firm and household technology adoption and subsequent macroeconomic outcomes. We apply the model using a novel data set on broadband availability, speed, and prices.

An Averaging Index of State Business Climate Rankings. 2016. Inside INdiana Business with Dick Heupel

We propose a mean ranking system combining states' business climate rankings from multiple sources and show that our ranking tends to be more predictive of state output and employment.