IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/qjecon/v99y1984i4p767-790..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Social Security on Retirement in the Early 1970s

Author

Listed:
  • Michael D. Hurd
  • Michael J. Boskin

Abstract

We analyze detailed longitudinal data on a cohort of males aged 58–67 in 1969–1973, a period of substantial increases in real Social Security benefits. We find the following: (1) the accelerating decline in labor force participation of elderly men in 1969–1973 can be explained by the large increase in real Social Security benefits; (2) there is evidence of a liquidity constraint effect for an important subgroup of the elderly; (3) the magnitude of this induced retirement effect is large enough that ignoring it can lead to serious underestimation of the fiscal implications of changes in benefit provisions. Our results are interpreted in the historical context of a particular cohort undergoing major, unanticipated transfers of wealth; the steady-state effects of Social Security on retirement may not be the same.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael D. Hurd & Michael J. Boskin, 1984. "The Effect of Social Security on Retirement in the Early 1970s," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(4), pages 767-790.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:99:y:1984:i:4:p:767-790.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2307/1883125
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Campbell, Colin D & Campbell, Rosemary G, 1976. "Conflicting Views on the Effect of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance on Retirement," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(3), pages 369-388, September.
    2. Alan S. Blinder & Roger H. Gordon & Donald E. Wise, 1980. "Reconsidering the Work Disincentive Effects of Social Security," NBER Working Papers 0562, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & David A. Wise, 1988. "Pension Backloading, Wage Taxes, and Work Disincentives," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy: Volume 2, pages 161-196, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Roger H. Gordon & Alan S. Blinder, 1980. "Market Wages, Reservation Wages, and Retirement Decisions," NBER Chapters, in: Econometric Studies in Public Finance, pages 277-308, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Olivia S. Mitchell & Gary S. Fields, 1981. "The Effects of Pensions and Earnings on Retirement: A Review Essay," NBER Working Papers 0772, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Anthony J. Pellechio, 1981. "Social Security and the Decision to Retire," NBER Working Papers 0734, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Mastrobuoni, Giovanni, 2011. "The role of information for retirement behavior: Evidence based on the stepwise introduction of the Social Security Statement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 913-925, August.
    6. Hiedemann, Bridget, 1998. "A Stackelberg model of Social Security acceptance decisions in dual career households," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 263-278, February.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:305-355 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Gustman, Alan L & Steinmeier, Thomas L, 1986. "A Structural Retirement Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 555-584, May.
    9. Stock, James H & Wise, David A, 1990. "Pensions, the Option Value of Work, and Retirement," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(5), pages 1151-1180, September.
    10. Leora Friedberg, 2000. "The Labor Supply Effects of the Social Security Earnings Test," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 48-63, February.
    11. Gary S. Fields & Olivia S. Mitchell, 1984. "Economic Determinants of the Optimal Retirement Age: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 19(2), pages 245-262.
    12. Krueger, Alan B & Pischke, Jorn-Steffen, 1992. "The Effect of Social Security on Labor Supply: A Cohort Analysis of the Notch Generation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 412-437, October.
    13. John Rust & Christopher Phelan, 1997. "How Social Security and Medicare Affect Retirement Behavior in a World of Incomplete Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(4), pages 781-832, July.
    14. Anthony J. Pellechio, 1978. "The Effect of Social Security on Retirement," NBER Working Papers 0260, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Roger H. Gordon, 1983. "Social Security And Labor Supply Incentives," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 1(3), pages 16-22, April.
    16. Casey B. Mulligan, 2002. "A Century of Labor-Leisure Distortions," NBER Working Papers 8774, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Jennifer Warlick & Richard V. Burkhauser, 1984. "Raising the Normal Retirement Age under Social Security: A Life-Cycle Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Transfers in the United States, pages 359-380, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Krueger, Alan B. & Meyer, Bruce D., 2002. "Labor supply effects of social insurance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 33, pages 2327-2392, Elsevier.
    19. Tetsuji Yamada & Tadashi Yamada, 1987. "Social Security and Earlier Retirement in Japan: Cross-Sectional Evidence," NBER Working Papers 2442, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Feng, Jin & He, Lixin & Sato, Hiroshi, 2009. "Public pension and household saving: evidence from China," BOFIT Discussion Papers 2/2009, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    21. Charles W. Meyer & Nancy L. Wolff, 1987. "Intercohort and Intracohort Redistribution under Old Age Insurance: The 1962–1972 Retirement Cohorts," Public Finance Review, , vol. 15(3), pages 259-281, July.

    More about this item

    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:oup:qjecon:v:99:y:1984:i:4:p:767-790.. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/qje .

    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.