A lecture by Leora Friedberg on what we can learn from health insurance and retirement savings decisions.

Determining the amount to contribute to a savings plan and the health insurance plan to select are some of the complicated choices that many individuals face in their jobs. To understand how individuals make these decisions, Professor Friedberg examines how Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which provide powerful tax advantages and flexible distribution opportunities, can optimally be used alongside 401(k) plans to enhance retirement readiness; how they are used by employees in a large employer plan; and how employees report viewing them. Professor Friedberg’s research combines novel survey data, rich theoretical models, and machine learning techniques to understand economic choices in a complicated setting.

Leora Friedberg is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Virginia. Professor Friedberg is an affiliated researcher with the Retirement Research Institute, the University of Michigan Retirement Research Center, TIAA-CREF Institute, and the Virginia Center for Tax Law. Her research focuses on retirement, aging, and government policy. Professor Friedberg completed her Ph.D. in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her B.A. in Economics at the Johns Hopkins University.

Sponsored by the economics department. Free and open to the public.