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Is an early retirement offer good for your health? Quasi-experimental evidence from the army

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  • Hallberg, Daniel
  • Johansson, Per
  • Josephson, Malin

Abstract

This paper studies empirically the consequences on health of an early retirement offer. To this end we use a targeted retirement offer to military officers 55 years of age or older. Before the offer was implemented, the normal retirement age in the Swedish defense was 60 years of age. Estimating the effect of the offer on individuals’ health within the age range 56–70, we find support for a reduction in both mortality and in inpatient care as a consequence of the early retirement offer. Increasing the mandatory retirement age may thus not only have positive government income effects but also negative effects on increasing government health care expenditures.

Suggested Citation

  • Hallberg, Daniel & Johansson, Per & Josephson, Malin, 2015. "Is an early retirement offer good for your health? Quasi-experimental evidence from the army," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 274-285.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:44:y:2015:i:c:p:274-285
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.09.006
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health; Mortality; Inpatient care; Retirement; Pensions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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