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Disability Pensions and Labor Supply

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  • Barbara Hanel

Abstract

I investigate the incentive effects of disability pensions on the labor supply decision of the elderly in Germany. In the year 2001, a reform decreased the level of benefits and tightened the criteria of eligibility. The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, I estimate transition rates into disability retirement, both prior to and after the reform in order to evaluate the effect of the reform on retirement behavior. Second, I use the exogenous variation in (a) expected benefit levels and (b) expected benefit accruals that is caused by the reform, in order to obtain reliable estimates of individuals’ responses in retirement behavior to financial incentives. While health status and expected wages turn out to be important determinants of the decision to enter disability retirement, benefits have only a small effect.

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  • Barbara Hanel, 2010. "Disability Pensions and Labor Supply," Working Papers 086, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    • Handle: RePEc:bav:wpaper:086_hanel
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    Cited by:

    1. Sylvain Chareyron & Naomie Mahmoudi, 2022. "The effects of disability benefits on the employment of low-skilled youth: Evidence from France," Erudite Working Paper 2022-09, Erudite.
    2. van der Velde, Lucas, 2022. "Phasing out: Routine tasks and retirement," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 784-803.
    3. Laub, Natalie & Boockmann, Bernhard & Kroczek, Martin, 2023. "Tightening Access to Early Retirement: Who Can Adapt?," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277625, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Riphahn, Regina T. & Schrader, Rebecca, 2023. "Reforms of an early retirement pathway in Germany and their labor market effects," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 304-330, July.
    5. Robert E. Hall, 2015. "Quantifying the Lasting Harm to the US Economy from the Financial Crisis," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 71-128.
    6. Axel Börsch-Supan & Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Michela Coppola & Bettina Lamla, 2015. "Savings In Times Of Demographic Change: Lessons From The German Experience," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 807-829, September.
    7. Regina T. Riphahn & Rebecca Schrader, 2020. "Labor market effects of early retirement reforms," Working Papers 199, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    8. Ye, Han, 2018. "The Effect of Pension Subsidies on Retirement Timing of Older Women: Evidence from a Regression Kink Design," IZA Discussion Papers 11831, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Engels, Barbara & Geyer, Johannes & Haan, Peter, 2017. "Pension incentives and early retirement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 216-231.
    10. Zwick, Thomas & Bruns, Mona & Geyer, Johannes & Lorenz, Svenja, 2022. "Early retirement of employees in demanding jobs: Evidence from a German pension reform," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    11. Agar Brugiavini & Petru Crudu, 2023. "The Role of Disability Insurance on the Labour Market Trajectories of Europeans," Working Papers 2023:20, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    12. Erik Hernæs & Simen Markussen & John Piggott & Knut Røed, 2024. "The impact of pension reform on employment, retirement, and disability insurance claims," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(4), pages 1-27, December.
    13. Matthias Giesecke, 2018. "The Effect of Benefit Reductions on the Retirement Age: The Heterogeneous Response of Manual and Non‐Manual Workers," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(1), pages 213-238, March.
    14. Sahlgren, Gabriel H., 2012. "Work ‘til You Drop: Short- and Longer-Term Health Effects of Retirement in Europe," Working Paper Series 928, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    15. Viktor Steiner, 2017. "The labor market for older workers in Germany [Der Arbeitsmarkt für ältere Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 50(1), pages 1-14, August.
    16. Marijana Badun, 2017. "Determinants of disability pensions in Croatia: the role of institutions," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 41(1), pages 109-128.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    disability pensions; labor force exit; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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