Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2013
Keywords
joint retirement, social security incentives
Abstract
In this paper we study the retirement patterns of couples in a multi-country setting using data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe. In particular we test whether women's (men's) transitions out of the labor force are directly related to the actual realization of their husbands' (wives') transition, using the institutional variation in country-specific early and full statutory retirement ages to instrument the latter. Exploiting the discontinuities in retirement behavior across countries, we find a significative joint retirement effect, especially for women, of around 16 to 18 percentage points. For men, we find a similar but less precise effect. Our empirical strategy allows us to give a causal interpretation to the effect we estimate. In addition, this effect has important implications for policy analysis.
Series Title
CESR Working paper number
Series Number
2013-006
Citation
Hospido, L., & Zamarro, G. (2013). Retirement Patterns of Couples in Europe. Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/edrepub/97
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Behavioral Economics Commons, Economic Policy Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons