TY  - JOUR
AU  - Doyle,Suzanne
AU  - Mitchell,Olivia S.
AU  - Piggott,John
TI  - Annuity Values in Defined Contribution Retirement Systems: The Case of Singapore and Australia
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8091
PY  - 2001
Y2  - January 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8091
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8091.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Olivia S. Mitchell
University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School
3620 Locust Walk, St 3000 SH-DH
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6302
Tel: 215-898-0424
Fax: 215/898-0310
E-Mail: mitchelo@wharton.upenn.edu

John Piggott
School of Economics
University of New South Wales
Sydney 2052, Australia
E-Mail: j.piggott@unsw.edu.au
AB  - In this paper we derive and compare the value of life annuity products in an international context. Our specific goal is to assess the money's worth and adverse selection impact of annuities in two countries   Singapore and Australia   that have mandatory DC-type retirement plans. This similarity in plan type is offset by differences in the two countries' national retirement policies.  Our comparison therefore exploits the natural experiment in annuity pricing and purchase behaviour under alternative retirement regimes. The results show that after controlling on administrative loadings, there appear to be important differences in measured adverse selection across countries. Specifically, selection appears to be far stronger in the presence of a generous public benefit scheme that provides a first line of defence against the risk of old-age poverty.
ER  -