Dan Silverman, professor of economics at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, is an authority on financial decision making; retirement healthcare; and annuitization. In this interview, Professor Silverman offers three reasons why two similarly situated people would have different financial outcomes. He offers a solution to the classic retirement-saving puzzle – the surprising phenomenon that retirees strongly avoid drawing down their wealth beyond what researchers would expect. His answer to this question also helps to resolve the so-called “annuity puzzle,” wherein consumers shun products that economic theory assumes they would embrace.
