IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joecag/v23y2022ics2212828x22000330.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Joint retirement behaviour and pension reform in the Netherlands

Author

Listed:
  • Nagore García, Amparo
  • van Soest, Arthur

Abstract

We examine the effects of a major pension reform in 2015 on the joint retirement decisions of working couples in the Netherlands. The reform abolished the partner allowance, a state pension supplement for a nonworking partner below the state pension age. At the same time, actuarially generous early retirement arrangements were made less attractive. Using rich administrative data, we estimate a multivariate mixed proportional hazards model that distinguishes between several sources of joint retirement: financial incentives, other causal mechanisms that make retirement of one spouse more likely when the other spouse retires (e.g., due to complementarities in leisure or social norms) and correlated preferences (observed and unobserved heterogeneity). We find that, conditional on observed and unobserved characteristics, the reform reduced the tendency to retire jointly and argue that this is not only due to a change in financial incentives but also to a change in the social norm.

Suggested Citation

  • Nagore García, Amparo & van Soest, Arthur, 2022. "Joint retirement behaviour and pension reform in the Netherlands," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:23:y:2022:i:c:s2212828x22000330
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2022.100401
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X22000330
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeoa.2022.100401?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andries De Grip & Maarten Lindeboom & Raymond Montizaan, 2012. "Shattered Dreams: The Effects of Changing the Pension System Late in the Game," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(559), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Michael Baker, 2002. "The Retirement Behavior of Married Couples: Evidence from the Spouse's Allowance," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(1), pages 1-34.
    3. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 2004. "Social security, pensions and retirement behaviour within the family," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 723-737.
    4. Blau, David M, 1998. "Labor Force Dynamics of Older Married Couples," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(3), pages 595-629, July.
    5. Luc Behaghel & David M. Blau, 2012. "Framing Social Security Reform: Behavioral Responses to Changes in the Full Retirement Age," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 41-67, November.
    6. Elena Stancanelli & Arthur Van Soest, 2016. "Partners’ leisure time truly together upon retirement," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Laura Hospido & Gema Zamarro, 2014. "Retirement patterns of couples in Europe," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, December.
    8. Amparo Nagore García & Mariacristina Rossi & Arthur Soest, 2021. "Retirement of the self-employed in the Netherlands," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 385-402, January.
    9. J. Heckman & B. Singer, 1984. "The Identifiability of the Proportional Hazard Model," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(2), pages 231-241.
    10. Mauro Mastrogiacomo & Rob Alessie & Maarten Lindeboom, 2004. "Retirement behaviour of Dutch elderly households," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 777-793.
    11. van Ooijen, Raun & Mastrogiacomo, Mauro & Euwals, Rob, 2010. "Private Wealth and Planned Early Retirement: A Panel Data Analysis for the Netherlands, 1994-2009," IZA Discussion Papers 5339, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Stancanelli, Elena, 2017. "Couples’ retirement under individual pension design: A regression discontinuity study for France," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 14-26.
    13. Michael D. Hurd, 1990. "The Joint Retirement Decision of Husbands and Wives," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Aging, pages 231-258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Michaud, Pierre-Carl & Van Soest, Arthur & Bissonnette, Luc, 2020. "Understanding joint retirement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 386-401.
    15. Lalive, Rafael & Parrotta, Pierpaolo, 2017. "How does pension eligibility affect labor supply in couples?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 177-188.
    16. Jiménez-Martín, Sergi & Labeaga, José M. & Martínez-Granado, Maite, 1999. "Health status and retirement decisison for older european couples," UC3M Working papers. Economics 6170, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    17. Cribb, Jonathan & Emmerson, Carl & Tetlow, Gemma, 2016. "Signals matter? Large retirement responses to limited financial incentives," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 203-212.
    18. Vipul Bhatt, 2017. "Cohort Differences in Joint Retirement: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 475-495, December.
    19. Niels Vermeer, 2016. "Age Anchors and the Expected Retirement Age: An Experimental Study," De Economist, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 255-279, September.
    20. Van den Berg, Gerard J., 2001. "Duration models: specification, identification and multiple durations," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 55, pages 3381-3460, Elsevier.
    21. Elena Stancanelli, 2017. "Couples’ Retirement under Individual Pension Design: a Regression Discontinuity Study for France," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-01630922, HAL.
    22. Coile Courtney, 2004. "Retirement Incentives and Couples' Retirement Decisions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-30, July.
    23. Kadir Atalay & Garry F. Barrett, 2015. "The Impact of Age Pension Eligibility Age on Retirement and Program Dependence: Evidence from an Australian Experiment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(1), pages 71-87, March.
    24. Gustman, Alan L & Steinmeier, Thomas L, 2000. "Retirement in Dual-Career Families: A Structural Model," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(3), pages 503-545, July.
    25. Elena Stancanelli, 2017. "Couples’ Retirement under Individual Pension Design: a Regression Discontinuity Study for France," Post-Print hal-01630922, HAL.
    26. Mark Y. An & Bent Jesper Christensen & Nabanita Datta Gupta, 2004. "Multivariate mixed proportional hazard modelling of the joint retirement of married couples," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 687-704.
    27. Mauro Mastrogiacomo & Rob Euwals & Raun van Ooijen, 2010. "Private wealth and planned early retirement: A panel data analysis for the Netherlands 1994-2009," CPB Discussion Paper 160, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    28. Blau, David M., 1997. "Social security and the labor supply of older married couples," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 373-418, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wifo, 2023. "WIFO-Monatsberichte, Heft 8/2023," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 96(8), August.
    2. Marian Fink & Christine Mayrhuber & Silvia Rocha-Akis, 2023. "Abgabenbelastung bei Kombination von Pensions- und Erwerbseinkommen," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 96(8), pages 539-551, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. García-Miralles, Esteban & Leganza, Jonathan M., 2024. "Joint retirement of couples: Evidence from discontinuities in Denmark," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    2. Julian Vedeler Johnsen & Kjell Vaage & Alexander Willén, 2022. "Interactions in Public Policies: Spousal Responses and Program Spillovers of Welfare Reforms," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(642), pages 834-864.
    3. Kadir Atalay & Garry F. Barrett & Peter Siminski, 2019. "Pension incentives and the joint retirement of couples: evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 735-767, July.
    4. Moghadam, Hamed Markazi & Puhani, Patrick & Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2023. "Pension Reforms and Couples' Labour Supply Decisions," Economics Working Paper Series 2304, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    5. Lalive, Rafael & Parrotta, Pierpaolo, 2017. "How does pension eligibility affect labor supply in couples?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 177-188.
    6. Etgeton, Stefan & Fischer, Björn & Ye, Han, 2023. "The effect of increasing retirement age on households’ savings and consumption expenditure," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    7. Cetin, Sefane & Jousten, Alain, 2022. "Retirement Decision of Belgian Couples and the Impact of the Social Security System," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2022024, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    8. Michaud, Pierre-Carl, 2003. "Joint Labour Supply Dynamics of Older Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 832, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Warren, Diana A., 2015. "Retirement decisions of couples in Australia: The impact of spousal characteristics and preferences," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 149-162.
    10. Sefane Cetin, 2021. "Joint Retirement: Evidence on the Heterogeneity of Spousal Effects," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2021031, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    11. Håkan Selin, 2017. "What happens to the husband’s retirement decision when the wife’s retirement incentives change?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(3), pages 432-458, June.
    12. Selin, Håkan, 2011. "What happens to the husband’s retirement decision when the wife’s retirement incentives change?," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2011:8, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    13. Blundell, R. & French, E. & Tetlow, G., 2016. "Retirement Incentives and Labor Supply," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 457-566, Elsevier.
    14. Bo Honoré & Thomas Jørgensen & Áureo de Paula, 2020. "The informativeness of estimation moments," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 797-813, November.
    15. Michaud, Pierre-Carl & Van Soest, Arthur & Bissonnette, Luc, 2020. "Understanding joint retirement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 386-401.
    16. Sílvia Garcia-Mandicó & Sergi Jiménez-Martín, 2020. "Spillovers in pension incentives and the joint retirement behavior of Spanish couples," Working Papers 2020-13, FEDEA.
    17. Marco Bertoni & Giorgio Brunello, 2014. "Pappa Ante Portas: The Retired Husband Syndrome in Japan," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0182, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    18. Idriss Fontaine, 2019. "The interaction between labour force participation of older men and their wife: lessons from France," Working Papers hal-02334085, HAL.
    19. Boyle, Melissa A. & Lahey, Joanna N., 2016. "Spousal labor market effects from government health insurance: Evidence from a veterans affairs expansion," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 63-76.
    20. Bingley, Paul & Lanot, Gauthier, 2007. "Public pension programmes and the retirement of married couples in Denmark," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(10), pages 1878-1901, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household labour supply; Ageing; Partner allowance; Early retirement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:23:y:2022:i:c:s2212828x22000330. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-the-economics-of-ageing .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.