James Poterba

Overview

James Poterba is an economist at MIT and president of the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on public finance, household saving, and the economics of aging and retirement. He is the senior author of the Poterba-Venti-Wise series of papers on health, education, and retirement wealth using Health and Retirement Study panel data.

Key Contributions

• Poterba-Venti-Wise series (HRS): Multi-paper series covering post-retirement asset evolution, the education-wealth gap, and DI participation. The 2010 paper (WP 15789) documents that assets grow for stable households and decline sharply at divorce; latent health quintile ratio widens from 1.7 to 2.2 (1992–2006). The 2013a paper decomposes the education-wealth gap; portfolio return gradient (6.6%–14.4%) is the single most powerful channel. The 2017 paper (WP 23307) extends to DI participation: health pathway explains ~74% of women's education-DI gap. See Post-Retirement Asset Drawdown and Education and DI Participation.
• NBER Economics of Aging: Co-organizer and volume editor of NBER's long-running Economics of Aging research program, the primary institutional home for HRS-based research.
• Public finance: Major contributions to the economics of tax policy and saving, including work on IRAs, 401(k) plans, and the incidence of capital income taxation.

Related

• Steven Venti
• David Wise
• Health and Retirement Study
• Income-Mortality Gradient

Sources

• Poterba Rauh Venti and Wise 2006 — Lifecycle Asset Allocation Strategies and the Distribution of 401(k) Retirement Wealth
• Poterba Venti and Wise 2010 — Family Status Transitions, Latent Health, and the Post-Retirement Evolution of Assets
• Poterba Venti and Wise 2013a — Health Education and the Post-Retirement Evolution of Household Assets
• Poterba Venti and Wise 2017 — The Long Reach of Education Health, Wealth, and DI Participation