CDR Seminar: Annelies Van Daal and Elody Hutten - "How to overcome inertia? On choices in the Dutch pension system"

Annelies Van Daal (l) and Elody Hutten (r)

Abstract:

The Dutch pension system is the only one of its kind in the pension landscape across the world. This uniqueness stems from, among other things, an almost complete absence of choice options. Recently, however, a shift in paradigm is taking place, from mandatory one-size-fits-all solutions, to a pension system in which tailor-made solutions are more common and participants have more choice options. This raises many questions centering around the pension participants’ preferences regarding choices, optimal choice architectures and the way the Dutch pension profession has to respond to this development.

To this respect, APG (the largest pensions service provider in the Netherlands covering almost 5 mln participants and 450 bln euros assets under management) started a research line called ‘Pensions and Choice’ in which we explore the unknown field of choices in the Dutch pension system, thereby answering the question what the new role of the pension professional should be. During the seminar we will present our ongoing research. We will talk about topics like the unconscious way people react to pension choices which we examined by analyzing results from fMRI scans of individuals; the way framing affects pension choices using Kahneman & Tversky’s prospect theory; and the question whether people intend to follow choices of others, resulting in herding behavior.

About the speakers:

Annelies van Daal is a researcher at APG Asset Management who specializes in applying insights from behavioral economics in the pension field. Annelies holds a BSc in Economics and Governance from Wageningen University, and a MSc in Economics from Tilburg University, with a NETSPAR specialization.

Elody Hutten is a researcher at APG Asset Management who has a background in Psychology (University of Twente) and Finance (University of Groningen). She specializes in individual decision-making and financial literacy.