Review of research relevant to assessing the impact of the proposed National Pension Savings Scheme on household savings
Research Report No. 373
by John Hawksworth, PricewaterhouseCoopers
This report summarises the key findings from a review of the research literature relevant to the question of whether the National Pension Savings Scheme (NPSS) recommended by the Pensions Commission would add to total household savings. This review is intended to assist the Government in their assessment of the NPSS and other options for delivering personal accounts and reforming private pensions. The report focuses on academic research and other published research meeting appropriate standards of rigour and robustness.
The review is divided into two main parts: The first summarises a wide range of research of potential relevance to the assessment of the net impact on household savings of the proposed NPSS. This encompasses macroeconomic studies of the impact of changes in pension savings on total savings and microeconomic studies looking at the impact of tax incentives and matching contributions on voluntary savings, the impact on total savings of changes in mandatory or quasi-mandatory funded savings schemes, and the impact of automatic enrolment. The second part of the report then discusses the implications of this research for the assessment of the impact of the NPSS on total household savings.
August 2006
ISBN 1 84712 055 5
