New ESRC Government Collaborative PhD studentship available at CPE from October 2009 for study into retirement behaviour and pension design in the U.K.

News Item dated 28th July 2009.

The Centre for Policy Evaluation at the Nottingham School of Economics invites applications from suitably qualified candidates to take up a PhD studentship to support PhD thesis research on modelling retirement behaviour and the impact of pension policy reform, in collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions under the ESRC Government Collaborative Studentship Award scheme.

The purpose of this PhD research project is to explore how best to apply economic and empirical modelling methods to the design of pensions policies in general but in particular, to the evaluation of policies aimed at extending working lives.

The project will look at alternative strategies for modelling retirement decisions, and compare each in terms of:

• consistency with observed patterns of behaviour
• consistency with economic theories of retirement choice
• validity of the simulated retirement responses to known pensions policy reforms when judges against ex post evaluations of the same reforms
• the ease with which such models may translate into practical microsimulation tools for the evaluation of new pensions policy designs

This studentship is available from October 2009 for a period of three years. Its value is determined by the standard ESRC stipends. Currently, these amount to £15,290 per annum in maintenance awards, plus full-time tuition fees.

	For further details and informal enquiries, please contact Professor Alan Duncan at the Centre for Policy Evaluation. Ph.+44 115 846 6107
	Closing date: September 1st 2009