Boettner
Center for Pensions & Retirement
Research
The
Wharton School has announced the establishment
of the Boettner Center for Pensions
and Retirement Research. The Boettner
Center will support scholarly research,
teaching, and outreach on global aging,
successful retirement, and public and
private pensions. The center also will
disseminate research findings to international
audiences of academics and policy-makers
as well as support data development
efforts at Penn. Dr. Olivia S. Mitchell,
International Foundation of Employee
Benefit Plans Professor, has been appointed
director of the center .
"This
is an excellent opportunity for our
faculty and students to study pension
and retirement issues," said Dr.
Patrick Harker, dean of the Wharton
School. "The Boettner Center will
foster the interdisciplinary work necessary
for a full understanding of the issues.
This will help in the development of
sound and successful policies and programs
for the future."
Focuses
of the Center include:
Research
on Global Aging-Affiliates
of the Center will focus on challenges
and opportunities associated with
global aging and retirement. Researchers
will evaluate means to strengthen
global retirement income systems
and ways to address economic and
social problems in developing
and developed countries.
Research
on Successful Retirement-The
Center will encourage research
on saving behavior, how/why retirees
invest well or poorly, and how
they manage their resources during
retirement. Projects may evaluate
links between older peoples' psychological
and physical conditions as these
influence retirement patterns
and well-being, as well as interactions
between physical and mental health,
and successful retirement. Affiliates
concerned with retirement security
and financial gerontology will
develop models to predict and
enhance financial security among
the elderly.
Research
on Retirement Income
Security-The
Center will support
projects on public
and private pensions,
extending the work
of the Pension
Research Council
at the Wharton
School. Projects
will include research
on retirement plan
guarantees, government
social insurance
programs including
disability insurance,
participant-directed
pensions and the
impact of administrative
costs, investment
options in retirement,
and regulation
and supervision
of annuity markets
in the context
of retirement systems.
Projects also will
evaluate the optimal
mix between public
and private retirement
income programs.
Support
for Data Projects- The
Center will facilitate
access to research
data critical to
the investigation
of retirement security
in the U.S. and
around the world.
"We
are delighted that the
Center has been established
to carry out the Boettner
family's commitment
to retirement security," said
Dr. Mitchell. "This
funding will enable
University faculty and
students to launch new
and important research
on worldwide aging."
In
1997 Joseph and Ruth
Boettner's estate provided
a generous endowment
to the University for
a research center to
conduct scholarly research
on retirement security.
The stewardship of these
funds, currently totaling
around $5 million, and
the associated Center,
will be guided by Dr.
Mitchell as center director.
The Boettner family
sought to sponsor high-quality
research, teaching,
and information dissemination
that advances knowledge
about the links between
economic security and
physical, social, psychological,
and environmental well-being
in an aging world.
Dr.
Mitchell has served
as the International
Foundation of Employee
Benefit Plans Professor
of Insurance and Risk
Management at the Wharton
School since 1993. She
recently served on the
President's Commission
to Strengthen Social
Security and she is
a research associate
at the National Bureau
of Economic Research. |
