The PRC/Boettner Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the TIAA Institute are proud to announce a competition to fund innovative research that applies principles of behavioral economics/finance to issues related to older Americans' decision-making and retirement well-being. Grant proposals are due April 17 at 5 p.m. EST. See below for the documents required.
Please submit all proposal materials in one integrated file as an e-mail attachment to:
Ms. Irene Shaffer ishaffer_at_wharton.upenn.edu<mailto:ishaffer_at_wharton.upenn.edu>
Ms. Marilyn Grande mgrande_at_tiaa.org<mailto:mgrande_at_tiaa.org>
We look forward to receiving your research proposals. Thank you.
The TIAA Institute & Pension Research Council (PRC) Partnership
Call for Proposals
Applying Behavioral Economics/Finance to Enhance Retirement Well-Being
Due: April 17, 2016, 5:00 p.m. EST
The TIAA Institute is partnering with the Wharton School's Pension Research Council/Boettner Center at the University of Pennsylvania to fund innovative research that applies principles of behavioral economics/finance to issues related to older American's decision-making and retirement well-being. We are now accepting research proposals focused on this topic.
Eligibility: Any faculty member with an active appointment at a U.S. college or university is eligible to submit a proposal, as are researchers with appointments at public policy research organizations. Junior faculty members are encouraged to apply and special consideration will be given to their applications.
Priority Areas: We seek proposals to research questions examining how psychological, sociological, behavioral finance/economics factors affect older Americans decision-making and well-being. Topical areas include:
* Retirement plan defaults for retirees
* The role of simple heuristics
* Guaranteed income defaults
* The role of deferred insurance products
* Estate and tax planning
* The role of advice
* Cognitive decline and financial capability
* The interaction of retirement drawdowns with Social Security and Medicare
Some of the questions might include:
* What factors (e.g., behavioral biases, engagement, product choices) drive decisions regarding planning, saving, investment, or drawdowns? How and why do these diverge from peoples' stated priorities?
* What plan design features (e.g., choice architecture) can be leveraged in the drawdown stage to promote better retirement income risk management?
* How can advice be structured and framed at and throughout retirement, to address the behavioral biases that discourage annuitization? How and why do retirement payout decisions vary depending on the types of default options plan sponsors have in place during participants' enrollment and investment life cycle phases?
* How does uncertainty regarding future Social Security, Medicare, long-term care, and bequests shape decision-making about plan payouts and asset drawdowns in retirement?
Anticipated Outcomes:
* Innovative research that informs product and service development in the retirement industry, as well as public policy;
* Strong thought leadership at dissemination events highlighting findings; and
* Encouraging new researchers to study the application of behavioral finance/economics to the drawdown or payout phase of retirement.
How to Apply: Please submit the proposal materials detailed below as one integrated file in an e-mail attachment to:
Irene Shaffer - ishaffer_at_wharton.upenn.edu<mailto:ishaffer_at_wharton.upenn.edu>
Marilyn Grande - mgrande_at_tiaa-cref.org<mailto:mgrande_at_tiaa-cref.org>
The proposal deadline is April 17, 2016, 5:00 p.m. EST.
Specific instructions for preparation of proposals are as follows:
Proposals should follow NIH-style formats which can be found at: (
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html)
1) Face Page, NIH-style:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/fp1.pdf
2) Abstract (150 words)
3) Proposal Narrative (3-5 pages):
a) Title of proposal, name of investigator(s) along with full contact information
b) Research Question(s)
c) Project Motivation and Goals
d) Research Plan/Methodology
e) Analytical framework
f) Data sources (if any)
g) Planned sensitivity analysis (if any)
h) Potential Practical Implications and Likely Conclusions
i) Timeline for Deliverables (not part of page count; see below for more information)
j) List of References cited in the Proposal (not part of page count)
4) Bio-sketch, NIH-style:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/biosketch.pdf
5) Proposed Budget and Budget Justification, NIH-style:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/fp4.pdf
Note: This grant program will support only the direct costs of research and cannot fund overhead or indirect costs. Proposals must include a detailed and complete budget, separately itemizing costs for at least the following expenses:
* Personnel, including salary and benefits for the principal investigator and any co-investigators or research assistants (each separately itemized);
* Travel for research-related purposes;
* Equipment, materials, and other expenses, including the itemized costs, if any, of data, postage, and/or printing.
6) Complete resumes/C.V.'s of the primary investigator(s)
Deliverables:
* Interim and Final Reports on research and financials (see targeted timeline).
* Working Paper: The working paper from the project must be suitable for posting as a TIAA Institute Research Dialogue on the Institute's web site, and a Working Paper to be posted on the Boettner Center/PRC's website.
* Non-Technical Report and Executive Summary outlining the main findings and implications of the research. The non-technical report should be 3-5,000 words in length, and the executive summary approximately 300 words. The report should be suitable for posting as a TIAA-CREF Institute Trends and Issues note.
* Up to two oral presentations of the research may result if requested by the TIAA Institute. Funding for any necessary travel will be provided by the TIAA Institute.
Targeted Timeline:
* Research to be conducted from June 1, 2016 through August 31, 2017 (unless a two year research term is granted, in which case the project will end August 31, 2018)
* Interim Reports: Interim progress and financial report to be submitted October 5, 2016 and February 5, 2017 (if a two-year term is granted, the above dates apply as well as October 5, 2017 and Feb 5, 2018.)
* Final Reports: Narrative and financial reports to be submitted September 30, 2017 (if a two-year grant is awarded, reports are due September 30, 2018.)
* Possible Researcher Workshop Fall 2017 (and 2018 for two-year projects)
Recipients of a TIAA Institute/Boettner award will be expected to comply with the following conditions:
1) Throughout the project, the PI(s) must obtain IRB approval if they are using human subjects, along with human subject certification training (CITI) and sponsor approval requirements if required by their institution (e.g., foreign clearance). If human subjects are being used, a copy of an IRB letter of approval or exemption must be submitted to the Boettner Center prior to project funding to be released.
2) PI's are required to acknowledge the grant support received for this research on all papers and presentations stemming from research conducted with this financing. Please use this statement:
"The project described received funding from the TIAA Institute and Wharton School's Pension Research Council/Boettner Center. The content is solely the responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent official views of the above-named institutions."
Received on Mon Mar 14 2016 - 15:42:52 EDT
