Untitled Document

Research

Karen C.A. Holden

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Professor, Department of Consumer Science and Public Affairs
holden@lafollette.wisc.edu http://www.sohe.wisc.edu/cs/Pages/bioholden.html

http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/facultystaff/holden-karen.html

Economic Well-being in Retirement and Widow(er)hood and the Public Policy Response

My research seeks to understand how public policy, through regulation or direct program assistance, reduces the financial and health consequences of critical life events (e.g., disability, divorce, widowhood, death, job loss). It is part of a larger interest in the adequacy of resources during retirement and understanding the effects of public programs and policies that attempt to influence the economic well being of vulnerable individuals.

One research question is: What do individuals know about the level of risk they face, and why do they not fully insure themselves against these known risks through increased savings and insurance purchase? Most of this body of research has been on the economic consequences of widowhood, disability, and retirement with a focus on how public and private insurance can mitigate the economic consequences of those events. Related to this is my interest in understanding how health insurance coverage for a woman is affected by husband�s death, his retirement, or her own job changes. Another body of research examines savings adequacy at retirement and during the early retirement years.

My research extends beyond the U.S. with international comparative studies of the economic impact of a husband's death on the economic well-being of the widow. We seek to discover whether the effect of widowhood is different across nations and to identify how the different Social Security system provisions affect how well off widows are after their husbands' deaths. That is, cross national research may help us know whether survivor benefits matter and for whom, whether minimum ages of benefit receipt cause differences across ages of widows, and whether limitations on earnings restrict income. It is clear that the death of a husband exacts an economic toll against which couples in the U.S. are not fully insured. This contrasts with European countries in which widowhood is not on average an economically difficult event. My continuing research examines why, despite pension and social security legislation in the U.S. specifically intended to reduce the economic consequences of widowhood, women remain vulnerable to sharp income changes when their husbands die.

My interest in complete and accurate survey data has motivated my participation in the design and development of the Health and Retirement Survey, the 1990 Resurvey of the Older Males in the National Longitudinal Survey, and the Second Wave of the National Survey of Families and Households. I am also involved in the resurvey of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey, a sample of 1957 Wisconsin high school graduates now aged 61-63, a prime group for examining income, wealth, and health insurance issues during the early retirement years.

Representative Publications
Holden, K., & Hatcher, C. (2006). Economic Status of the Aged. In R. Binstock & L.K. George (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences. Elsevier.

Haveman, R., Holden, K., Wolfe, B., & Sherlund, S. (2006). Do newly retired workers in the United States have sufficient resources to maintain well-being? Economic Inquiry, 44(2), 249-64.

Haveman, R., Holden, K., Wolfe, B., & Romanov, A. (2005). Assessing the maintenance of savings sufficiency over the first decade of retirement. CESifo Working Paper Series No. 1567, from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection..

Holden, K., & Brand, J. (2003). Income change and distribution upon widowhood: Comparison of Britain, U.S., and Germany. In E. Overbye & P. Kemp (Eds.), Pensions: Challenges and reform. Aldershot, Ashgate.

Haveman, R., Holden, K., Wilson, K., & Wolfe, B. (2003). Social Security, age-of-retirement, and economic wellbeing: Intertemporal and demographic patterns among retired-worker beneficiaries. Demography, 40(2), 369-394.

Rappaport, A., & Holden, K. (2002). Risk management and insurance. In D.J. Ekerdt (Ed.), The Macmillan encyclopedia of aging (Vol. 26). New York: Macmillan Reference USA.

Holden, K.C., & Kim, M. (2001). Poverty. In G. Maddox (Ed.), The encyclopedia of aging: A comprehensive resource in gerontology and geriatrics (3rd ed.). New York: Springer Publishing.

Holden, K. (2001). Chronic and disabling conditions: The economic costs to individuals and society. The Public Policy and Aging Report, 11(2), 1-6. Washington, DC: National Academy on an Aging Society.

Zick, C., & Holden, K.C. (2000). An assessment of the wealth holdings of recent widows. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 55(2), S90-S97.

Holden, K.C., & Reynolds, A. (2000). Process evaluation of W-2: What it is, why it is useful, and how to do it? In B. Barnow, T. Kapaln, & R. Moffitt (Eds.), Evaluating comprehensive state welfare reform. Albany NY: The Rockefeller Institute Press.

Holden, K.C., & Hansen, W.L. (2000). Reflections on an earlier study of mandatory retirement: What came true and what we can still learn. In R. Clark & B. Hammond (Eds.), To retire or not: Examining retirement policy and behavior in higher education. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Holden, K.C., & Zick, C. (2000). Distributional changes in income and wealth upon widowhood: implications for private insurance and public policy. In SOA Monograph M-RS00-1, Retirement needs framework. Schaumburg, IL: Society of Actuaries.

Spratlin, J., & Holden, K. (2000). Women and economic security in retirement: Implications for Social Security reform. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 21(1), 37.

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