About this episode
Our guest this week is James Choi. Dr. Choi is a professor of finance at the Yale School of Management, where he teaches and conducts research on behavioral finance and economics, household finance, and sociology, among other topics. He is a two-time recipient of the TIAA Paul A. Samuelson Award for outstanding scholarly writing on lifelong financial security, and his work on automatic enrollment into retirement plans has had a major influence on retirement plan policy and design. Dr. Choi is a co-director of the Retirement and Disability Research Center at the National Bureau of Economic Research and an associate editor of the Journal of Finance , among other professional and scholarly affiliations. He received both his bachelor’s degree and doctorate from Harvard University. Background Bio Retirement and Disability Research Center Academics vs. Bestsellers “ Popular Personal Financial Advice Versus the Professors ,” by James Choi, nber.com , October 2022. Choice Architecture and Retirement Plan Design “ Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness ,” by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, researchgate.net , June 2009. “ Contributions to Defined Contribution Pension Plans ,” by James Choi, nber.org , August 2015. “ Small Cues Change Savings Choices ,” by James Choi, Emily Haisley, Jennifer Kurkoski, Cade Massey, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization , August 2017. “ Plan Design and 401(k) Savings Outcomes ,” by James Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte Madrian, National Tax Journal , June 2004. “ Saving for Retirement on the Path of Least Resistance ,” by James Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and Andrew Metrick, scholar.harvard.edu ., Dec. 1, 2005. “ Which Early Withdrawal Penalty Attracts the Most Deposits to a Commitment Savings Account? ” by James Choi, John Beshears, Christopher Harris, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and Jung Sakong, Journal of Public Economics, Feb. 8, 2020. “ Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-Enrollment Savings Effects ,” by John Beshears, James Choi, David Laibson, and Peter Maxted, hbs.edu , 2022. Retirement Readiness and Policy Response “ Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt ,” by John Beshears, James Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and William Skimmyhorn, nber.org , July 2019. “ The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions ,” by James Choi, John Beshears, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and Katherine Milkman, The Journal of Finance , June 2015. Emergency Savings “ Building Emergency Savings Through Employer-Sponsored Rainy-Day Savings Accounts ,” by John Beshears, James Choi, J. Mark Iwry, David John, David Laibson, and Brigitte Madrian, journals.uchicago.edu , 2020. Saving, Spending, Investor Behavior “ Economists Confirm It’s Actually OK to not Save Money in Your 20s ,” by Sarah Hansen, money.com , Sept. 2, 2022. “ Why Does the Law of One Price Fail? An Experiment on Index Mutual Funds ,” by James Choi, Xavier Gabaix, David Laibson, and Brigitte Madrian, nber.org , December 2005. “ Does Aggregated Returns Disclosure Increase Portfolio Risk Taking? ” by James Choi, James Beshears, David Laibson, and Brigitte Madrian, National Library of Medicine, Oct. 19, 2016. Other “ Brigitte Madrian: ‘Inertia Can Actually Be a Helpful Thing,’” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com , April 22, 2020. Morningstar Investment Conference 2023 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.