The Effect of Different Saving Mechanisms in Pension Saving Behavior: Evidence from a Life-Cycle Experiment
Martin Angerer, Michael Hanke, Ekaterina Shakina, Wiebke Szymczak
Journal of Risk and Financial Management,
No. 5,
2025
Abstract
We examine how institutional saving mechanisms influence retirement saving decisions under bounded rationality and income risk. Using a life-cycle experiment with habit formation and loss aversion, we test mandatory and voluntary binding savings under deterministic and stochastic income. Voluntary commitment improves saving performance only when income is predictable; under uncertainty, it fails to improve performance. Mandatory savings do not raise total saving, as participants reduce voluntary contributions. These results emphasize the role of income smoothing in enabling behavioral interventions to improve long-term financial outcomes.
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Tax Authority Attention and Financial Reporting
Iftekhar Hasan, Tahseen Hasan, Kose John
International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance,
1/2
2025
Abstract
We study the effects of Tax Authority (IRS) attention on a firm’s financial reporting. We explore whether firms institute a higher degree of accounting conservatism in response to IRS monitoring. Using data on IRS acquisition of public firms’ 10-K financial disclosures to proxy for IRS attention, we find that when firms are under IRS attention, they tend to initiate higher levels of unconditional and, to some extent, conditional accounting conservatism. We alleviate some of the endogeneity concerns by using pre- and post-IRS attention environments between the treated group (firms with IRS attention) and a propensity score that matches the control group of firms (no IRS attention). These results withstand several robustness tests and subsample analyses.
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14.05.2025 • 16/2025
Private ownership boosts hospital performance
New research by the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) and ESMT Berlin shows that private equity (PE) acquisitions lead to substantial operational efficiency gains in hospitals, challenging common public concerns. The study reveals that hospitals acquired by PE firms significantly reduce costs and administrative staff without increasing closure rates or harming patient care.
Merih Sevilir
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The Network
About IWH CompNet The Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet) is a leading European research initiative dedicated to advancing the understanding of competitiveness and…
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Advisory Board The CompNet Advisory Board is composed of distinguished scholars and leading experts in the fields of productivity, competitiveness, and economic policy, and also…
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Media Response
Media Response November 2025 Reint Gropp: Was für die Klimaneutralität bis 2045 spricht - und was dagegen in: Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, 10.11.2025 Oliver Holtemöller: Diese Grafik…
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Research Articles
Research Articles Explore cutting-edge research based on CompNet’s micro-aggregated firm-level data and related analytical tools. These articles cover empirical and theoretical…
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Lecturers Lars Börner Professor of Economics at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Website Kamila Cygan-Rehm Professor of Quantitative Methods, esp. Econometrics at the…
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Supervisors Ufuk Akcigit Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at University of Chicago. Website Eric Bartelsman Professor of Economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and…
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Centre for Business and Productivity Dynamics
Centre for Business and Productivity Dynamics (IWH-CBPD) The Centre for Business and Productivity Dynamics (CBPD) was founded in January 2025 and works with policy and research…
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