Working Papers

• Retention or Regressivity? The Empirical Effects of 401(k) Vesting Schedules, with Aaron Goodman, October 2025, Revised and Resubmitted, Journal of Finance

  Vesting requirements are a common yet understudied feature of defined-contribution retirement plans. Using administrative recordkeeping data, we find that 30% of separations occur during participants’ vesting periods. The resulting forfeitures of employer contributions are concentrated among lower-income participants and make the distribution of 401(k) compensation significantly more regressive. Firms do not enjoy offsetting efficiency benefits: employing both cross-plan and within-plan identification strategies, we find no evidence that vesting exerts a causal retention effect. A linked survey shows informational frictions to be a key mechanism, as a majority of respondents do not know their current plan’s vesting rules.

  Presented at: NBER Aging Spring 2025, WFA 2025, NBER SI Household Finance 2025, NBER Labor Spring 2026

• Improving 401(k) Matches Using Hypothetical Choices, with Taha Choukhmane, Fiona Greig, Cormac O’Dea, and Lawrence Schmidt, May 2026

  How should employer 401(k) matching formulas, which allocate $250 billion annually, be designed to raise employee saving and reduce inequality in employer contributions? We use survey responses to hypothetical scenarios to predict how individuals would save under counterfactual policies. We then characterize the frontier of achievable saving-equity combinations. We find that survey responses accurately predict contribution choices in administrative 401(k) data, employee contributions are inelastic to the match rate, and non-elective contributions do not crowd out employee saving. Therefore, a lower match rate applied up to a higher cap paired with a non-elective contribution achieves higher savings and more equitable employer contributions. Many existing formulas, including those designated as safe harbors by regulation, are dominated along both dimensions.

  Presented at: NBER Public Spring 2026, WFA 2026, NBER SI Aging 2026

Work in Progress

• Earnings Shocks, Spousal Consumption and the Limits of Household Insurance, with Jin Cao

• Elite Social Status and Protection Against Economic Risk, with Florian Caro, Valerie Michelman, and Seth Zimmerman

• The Consumption Response to Household Expense Shocks, with Leo Feler and Kamila Janmohamed

Policy Reports

• Does 401(k) vesting help retain workers?, with Aaron Goodman, Febraury 2025

• Are Employers Optimizing Their 401(K) Match?, with Fiona Greig, Anna Madamba, Cormac O’Dea, Taha Choukhmane, and Lawrence Schmidt, May 2024