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What happens to the husband’s retirement decision when the wife’s retirement incentives change?

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  • Håkan Selin

    (Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU)
    Uppsala University)

Abstract

In this paper, I exploit population-wide administrative data and a Swedish occupational pension reform, which primarily affected a subgroup of female workers, to recover the effect of the wife’s retirement incentive on the husband’s retirement behavior. I estimate a sharp relative decrease in the retirement probability of 63-year-old wives who were treated by the reform. However, there was no significant response of their husbands, and this finding is surprisingly robust. This suggests that cross-effects (from the wife to the husband) are substantially smaller than the direct effects of the wife’s own incentive on the wife’s retirement.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:24:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10797-016-9427-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-016-9427-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    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. Todd Morris & Benoit Dostie, 2023. "Graying and staying on the job: The welfare implications of employment protection for older workers," Cahiers de recherche / Working Papers 15, Institut sur la retraite et l'épargne / Retirement and Savings Institute.
    3. Lisa Laun & Mårten Palme, 2018. "The Recent Rise of Labor Force Participation of Older Workers in Sweden," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer, pages 231-265, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Todd Morris, 2022. "The unequal burden of retirement reform: Evidence from Australia," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 592-619, April.
    5. Lisa Laun & Mårten Palme, 2023. "Pension Reform, Incentives to Retire and Retirement Behavior: Empirical Evidence from Swedish Microdata," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Effects of Reforms on Retirement Behavior, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Geyer, Johannes & Haan, Peter & Hammerschmid, Anna & Peters, Michael, 2020. "Labor Market and Distributional Effects of an Increase in the Retirement Age," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Herman Kruse, 2021. "Joint Retirement in Couples: Evidence of Complementarity in Leisure," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(3), pages 995-1024, July.
    10. 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.
    11. Johannes Hagen, 2018. "The effects of increasing the normal retirement age on health care utilization and mortality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 193-234, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Joint retirement; Retirement age; Occupational pensions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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