After a lifetime of work, most middle class Americans could retire at a reasonable age with a modest income that would last until death. But times have changed. It’s tougher to retire – and impossible for some. Restoring retirement readiness won’t be easy. But we must find cost-efficient approaches that meet the needs of workers and employers – building on what works, fixing what doesn’t, and creating a sensible 21st century retirement system that is available to all American workers.

NIRS Research focuses on informing the public policy debate around important retirement security issues. By developing and disseminating high-quality and reliable research, our goal is to identify sensible solutions that build broad-based retirement security.

Our Research Reports and Briefs focus on retirement security, with an emphasis on the role and value of defined benefit pension (DB) plans for employers, employees, the economy, and the public. We also conduct research on policy approaches and other innovative strategies to expand pension coverage and promote broad based retirement security.

NIRS has issued eight Research Reports:

• "Raising the Bar:  Policy Solutions for Improving Retirement Security" summarizes retirement policy action common ground identified at NIRS 1st annual retirement policy conference.  Download the report here.
• "Out of Balance:  Comparing Public and Private Sector Compensation Over 20 Years" finds that employees of state and local government earn an average of 11% and 12% less, respectively, than comparable private sector employees.
• "The Pension Factor:  Assessing the Role of Defined Benefit Plans in Reducing Elder Hardships " finds rates of poverty among older households lacking pension income were about six times greater than those with such income. Download the report here.
  
• "Pensionomics:  Measuring the Economic Impact of State and Local Pension Plans" find that pension benefit expenditures by retirees leave a large economic footprint:  2.5 million jobs and $358 billion in economic output.  Download the report here.
• "Pensions and Retirement Security: A Roadmap for Policy Makers" finds a high level of retirement concerns across America, with strong support for pensions. Download the report here.
  
• "A Better Bang for the Buck: The Economic Efficiencies of DB Plans” finds that the efficiencies of pension enable them to deliver the same retirement income at 46% lower cost than an individual defined contribution (DC) account.  Download the report here.
• "In it for the Long Haul:  The Investment Behavior of Public Pensions" finds that these plans are prudent investors in bull and bear markets.  Download the report here.
• "The New Intersection on the Road to Retirement: Public Pensions, Economics, Perceptions, Poltics, and Interest Groups " was published by Oxford University Press as a chapter in University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Pension Research Council volume, "The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems.  

NIRS has issued four Research Briefs:  

• "Retirement Readiness: What Difference Does a Pension Make?" reviews the role of pensions in enabling Americans to be self-sufficient in retirement. It also examines recent trends in pension coverage, and discusses areas worthy of exploration for policymakers. Download the brief here.
• "Patience is a Virtue: Asset Allocation Patterns of DB & DC Plans" finds that the shift from DB to DC plans may have reduced the supply of patient capital over time, meaning that businesses may have a harder time than in the past getting the financing for long-term productive investment projects.  Download the brief here.
• "Look Before You Leap:  The Unintended Consequences of Pension Freezes" finds that freezing a DB plan can have serious and unintended consequences -- increased costs, reduced benefits, or some combination thereof.  Download the brief here. Pension Freeze Issue Brief. 
• "Shattering the Retirement Glass Ceiling: Women Need a Three-Legged Stool" finds that women remain at a higher risk for retirement insecurity than men.  Than risk can be reduced with the combination of a traditional pension, supplemental 401(k)-type individual savings, and Social Security.  Download the brief here. 
  
• "The Staying Power of Pensions in the Public Sector" finds that pensions are an effective tool to meet the objectives of employers, employees and taxpayers and should not mimic the private sector trend away from pensions.  Download the brief here. 

Check back with us often. In addition to our research reports and briefs, we’ll be fact checking other reports, speaking at events, and commenting on various retirement issues.