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The politics of ageing and retirement: Evidence from Swiss referenda

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  • Piera Bello
  • Vincenzo Galasso

Abstract

Ageing threatens the financial sustainability of pay-as-you-go pension systems, since it increases the share of retirees to workers. An often-advocated policy response is to increase retirement age. Ironically, however, the political support for this policy may actually be hindered by population ageing. Using Swiss administrative voting data at municipal level from pension reform referenda (and individual survey data), we show in fact that individuals close to retirement tend to oppose policies that postpone retirement, whereas younger and older individuals are more favourable. The current process of population ageing and the associated increase in the size of the cohort of individuals close to retirement may partially explain why a pension reform that increased retirement age for women was approved in two referenda in 1995 and 1998, while a reform that proposed a similar increase in women’s retirement age was defeated in a 2017 referendum.

Suggested Citation

  • Piera Bello & Vincenzo Galasso, 2021. "The politics of ageing and retirement: Evidence from Swiss referenda," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 75(1), pages 3-18, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rpstxx:v:75:y:2021:i:1:p:3-18
    DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2020.1841270
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tito Boeri & Guido Tabellini, 2012. "Does information increase political support for pension reform?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 327-362, January.
    2. Monika Buetler & Michel André Maréchal, 2007. "Framing Effects in Political Decision Making: Evidence from a Natural Voting Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 1940, CESifo.
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    4. Monika Bütler, 2002. "The Political Feasibility of Increasing the Retirement Age: Lessons from a Ballot on the Female Retirement Age," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 9(4), pages 349-365, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sonja Feer & Oliver Lipps & Julia Dratva & Isabel Baumann, 2022. "Health and labor force participation among older workers in Switzerland: a growth curve analysis," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1395-1406, December.
    2. Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. & Maennig, Wolfgang & Mueller, Steffen Q., 2022. "The generation gap in direct democracy: Age vs. cohort effects," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Cetin, Sefane & Hindriks, Jean, 2023. "Sustainability of pension reforms: An EU-wide political stress," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2023016, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    4. Ben Brewer & Karen Smith Conway & Jonathan C. Rork, 2022. "Do income tax breaks for the elderly affect economic growth?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 7-27, January.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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