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Spousal Health Shocks and the Timing of the Retirement Decision in the Face of Forward-Looking Financial Incentives

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  • Courtney Harold Van Houtven
  • Norma B. Coe

Abstract

A long and still growing strand of the retirement literature examines the role financial incentives play in the timing of the retirement decision. A more recent second strand of work has focused on the role of health shocks in the retirement decision. This paper combines these two components of the literature in order to measure the marginal impact of current wealth (including pension accrual), forward-looking financial incentives (peak-value pension wealth), and health shocks on married individuals’ retirement decision. This paper helps to clarify whether previously omitted forward-looking financial incentives can explain the strong role attributed to health shocks in the retirement decisions of coupled individuals. We find that financial incentives are the most important determinant of retirement behavior empirically. A husband is about half as responsive to his wife’s financial incentives as he is to his own. Interestingly, we find that married men are responsive to their wives’ health shocks, on both the intensive and extensive margin, but find wives’ decisions concerning work are largely unaffected by their husbands’ health shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Courtney Harold Van Houtven & Norma B. Coe, 2010. "Spousal Health Shocks and the Timing of the Retirement Decision in the Face of Forward-Looking Financial Incentives," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2010-6, Center for Retirement Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2010-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Datta Gupta, Nabanita & Kleinjans, Kristin J. & Larsen, Mona, 2011. "The Effect of an Acute Health Shock on Work Behavior: Evidence from Different Health Care Regimes," IZA Discussion Papers 5843, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Zheng Shen & Xiaodong Zheng & Yiwen Tan, 2019. "The Spillover Effects of Spousal Chronic Diseases on Married Couples’ Labour Supply: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Volha Lazuka, 2022. "Household and individual economic responses to different health shocks: The role of medical innovations," Papers 2206.03306, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2022.
    4. Pilar Garcia-Gomez & Hans van Kippersluis & Owen O'Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2011. "Effects of Health on Own and Spousal Employment and Income using Acute Hospital Admissions," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-143/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Pilar García-Gómez & Hans van Kippersluis & Owen O’Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2013. "Long-Term and Spillover Effects of Health Shocks on Employment and Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(4), pages 873-909.
    6. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Kokot, Johanna, 2017. "Does a spouse's health shock influence the partner's risk attitudes?," Ruhr Economic Papers 707, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

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