An NBER working paper by Joseph S. Briggs, Ciaran Rogers and Christopher Tonetti examines demand for saving, life insurance, annuities and long-term care insurance. Its survey evidence documents perceived risk that insurers may not pay, and those beliefs predict insurance ownership.

The authors incorporate the elicited beliefs and other insurance features into a structural life-cycle model. Their counterfactual results concern outcomes generated by that model. They are not observed effects of removing nonpayment risk in an employer programme. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

The original NBER abstract was available in the research email. The public paper page could not be retrieved for this review, so detailed claims beyond that abstract are excluded. The editorial timestamp defaults to the email receipt on 27 April 2026 at 06:05:32 Paris time.

Ask what employees understand For benefits teams, the research provides a prompt to examine how protection is explained. An employee may recognise that a product is available while remaining uncertain about when it pays or what evidence is required. Understanding those concerns is a useful first step before deciding what communication is needed.

This editor recommends checking the explanations of eligibility, exclusions and claims procedures. Communications should identify the organisation responsible for payment and give employees a clear route for obtaining information. General assurances about security cannot replace understandable descriptions of the benefit.

Distinguish beliefs from actual experience Concerns about nonpayment may reflect several different experiences or expectations. An employer should not infer the cause from a low participation rate alone. It can examine questions raised through support channels and the clarity of available information while respecting employee privacy.

The same discipline applies to interpreting the study. A belief about insurer payment is not a measured probability that a particular insurer will default. A modelled change in welfare or saving is not an individual financial recommendation.

Use research to improve the questions The practical contribution is to connect confidence in protection with decisions about saving and insurance. Employers can use that perspective when reviewing retirement and risk benefits, without assuming that one communications intervention will change participation. Evidence about their own workforce remains necessary for choosing and evaluating a response.

Sources: Source de référence