125th Anniversary Faculty Tour
Olivia Mitchell
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor;
Professor of Insurance and Risk Management;
Professor of Business and Public Policy
Olivia Mitchell is one of the world's leading experts on retirement finance, including Social Security, pensions, and employee benefits. Named to the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security in 2001, she has also been a consultant to the World Bank, the Federal Reserve Board and the governments of Mexico, Japan and Brazil. Co-author or editor of 15 books, she is executive director of Wharton's Pension Research Council and director of Wharton's Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research. To read Professor Mitchell's full profile, click here.
In her own words…
"Most people focus on the top of a list of fund choices and stop reading after the first three or four. They are not choosing the best options; they are just overwhelmed by how much choice there is. Employees have to answer: Do I want a particular benefit? Which one do I want? How much will it cost? How much do I need to spend on a benefit such as this? How do I annuitize this spending? All of these are complicated questions — and they are a lot to ask from people."
Read about Olivia Mitchell's research in Knowledge@Wharton:
- Retirement Programs Face an "Aging-Population Tsunami"
- Older Workers: Untapped Assets for Creating Value
- United Airlines' Pension Problem: Who, Ultimately, Is Going to Pay?
- Venezuela's Fate Is Tied to Oil, and That's the Problem
- Redefining Retirement in the 21st Century
Read Olivia Mitchell's profile in the Wharton Alumni Magazine.