Financial and health security in old age: three essays

This dissertation is composed of three essays that examine issues and policies related to the well-being of the elderly in the United States. Using a randomized control design, I demonstrate the relative strength of incentives structured as a credit as opposed to an economically equivalent deduction within the framework of a retirement-based annuitization decision. Next, I exploit the natural experiment provided by the establishment of Medicare Part D in 2006 to evaluate health-related outcomes affected by this policy change. I provide evidence that Medicare Part D resulted in a number of positive health-related outcomes among those Medicare beneficiaries without prescription drug coverage prior to enrolling in Part D. Finally, I test whether the financially literate are more likely to make decisions that minimize the risks to their financial security. The results from this analysis are decidedly mixed. Financially literate individuals do not, necessarily make better financial and investment related decisions but appear more active in the decision-making process