Gary V. Engelhardt, a professor of economics and faculty associate with the Aging Studies Institute in the Maxwell School, was awarded a grant from the U.S. Social Security Administration through the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium.

The $100,000 grant will support Engelhardt’s research into the role of housing equity as an asset for retirement planning among older Americans. The project, titled “Intended Bequests and the Role of Housing Equity as a Source of Income in Older Age,” will draw on data from 20 years of the Health and Retirement Study to examine how the intention to make bequests limits the ability and willingness of older individuals to tap into housing equity as a source of retirement income. Additionally, Engelhardt will use this data to estimate how intergenerational and other forms of housing transfer real estate from older to younger generations as well as to study how changes in the structure of bequests might affect the ability of housing wealth to affect retirement incomes. Overall, Engelhardt’s project is expected to provide insights into how the Social Security Administration will be able to supplement its existing resources given expected long-term funding shortfalls.

Over the course of his career, Engelhardt has contributed to various economics literatures, including housing behavior; pensions, savings, and government policy; and Social Security, Medicare, and retirement. He has received funding for this work from numerous agencies including the U.S. Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Realtors, and the MacArthur Foundation. In 2014 Engelhardt won the American Real Estate Society’s Prize for Best Paper on Senior Housing and his work has been featured in national news outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Pension Economics and Finance.

You can read more about Engelhardt’s project on the Center for Retirement Research website.

03/06/20