The Financial Crisis and Consumers’ Income and Pension Expectations*

An analysis of the pension expectations of Dutch economic agents in the 2009-2012 period of economic crisis reveals that substantial heterogeneity prevailed in those expectations, and that there has been greater pessimism amongst the high educated. Crisis perceptions also contain private and plausible information on how the crisis affects different families in different ways. The expectations of large groups of people may, however, be unrealistically positive for some groups, such as those with lower income. This may be of concern for policy since these groups may also have fewer possibilities to adjust their life style or to rely on other resources if their pension income were to fall.