IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sek/iefpro/8911262.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The determinants of effective retirement age ? a cross-country analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Tomasz Jedynak

    (Cracow University of Economics)

Abstract

To restore the long term sustainability of pension schemes and improve pension benefits adequacy in recent years many countries have raised the statutory retirement age. According to official reports, however, there is a significant difference between statutory and actual (effective) retirement age. While in some countries the former is considerably higher than the latter, in other it is quite the opposite. Thus a question which underlays this research appears: what determines the effective retirement age? To answer these questions the study objectives are 1) to identify and discuss potential factors affecting retirement decisions; 2) to estimate the impact of the identified factors on the decision to retire. The empirical analysis in the study is based on the cross-country analysis of 34 OECD countries. To assess the impact of different variables on the effective retirement age we use a multivariate regression model. The model considers variables related to general economic conditions, health, and pension system architecture. Moreover, we also add to a model a dummy variable which informs whether a country is a European one or not. To fit the model and eliminate the highly correlated independent variables we apply the stepwise regression with forward selection. Taking into account the persistent gender differences, we calculate two separate models for men and women. The results of our regression model show that the most significant influence on the retirement age has: perceived health status, life expectancy and the employment rate of people aged 60 to 64. Furthermore, we observe a noticeable impact of ?being a European country? variable - simply being the European country leads to 3,76 lower retirement age for men and 2,78 for women. We also find that effective retirement age is positively and statistically significantly correlated with the relative poverty of the elderly, and negatively with old-age dependency ratio and replacement rate. There is also a strong, negative correlation between a dummy ?being a European country? variable and effective retirement age. Interestingly, we find no evidence that variables related to pensioners? income (the level of GDP per capita or disposable incomes of people aged over 65 and average wages) affect the effective retirement age.As our model is not capable to fully explain the differences in effective retirement age in analysed countries, we believe that apart from the quantitative parameters regarding economic conditions; financial incentives and pension system architecture; and health and demographic that are considered in the model, also other, rather qualitative factors, influence retirement decisions. We suppose that among these factors are mainly attitudinal and behavioural

Suggested Citation

  • Tomasz Jedynak, 2019. "The determinants of effective retirement age ? a cross-country analysis," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 8911262, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:sek:iefpro:8911262
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://iises.net/proceedings/11th-economics-finance-conference-rome/table-of-content/detail?cid=89&iid=007&rid=11262
    File Function: First version, 2019
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Noelia Bernal & Frederic Vermeulen, 2014. "The Impact of an Increase in the Legal Retirement Age on the Effective Retirement Age," De Economist, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 115-145, June.
    2. Rob Euwals & Daniel Vuuren & Ronald Wolthoff, 2010. "Early Retirement Behaviour in the Netherlands: Evidence From a Policy Reform," De Economist, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 209-236, September.
    3. Mitchell, Olivia S & Fields, Gary S, 1984. "The Economics of Retirement Behavior," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 84-105, January.
    4. Lumsdaine, Robin L. & Mitchell, Olivia S., 1999. "New developments in the economic analysis of retirement," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 49, pages 3261-3307, Elsevier.
    5. Jonathan Gruber & David A. Wise, 2004. "Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Micro-Estimation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub04-1.
    6. Boskin, Michael J, 1977. "Social Security and Retirement Decisions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 15(1), pages 1-25, January.
    7. Eric French, 2005. "The Effects of Health, Wealth, and Wages on Labour Supply and Retirement Behaviour," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(2), pages 395-427.
    8. M. R. Rosenzweig & Stark, O. (ed.), 1997. "Handbook of Population and Family Economics," Handbook of Population and Family Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    9. Michael D. Hurd & James P. Smith & Julie M. Zissimopoulos, 2004. "The effects of subjective survival on retirement and Social Security claiming," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 761-775.
    10. Mastrobuoni, Giovanni, 2009. "Labor supply effects of the recent social security benefit cuts: Empirical estimates using cohort discontinuities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1224-1233, December.
    11. Joseph F. Quinn, 1977. "Microeconomic Determinants of Early Retirement: A Cross-Sectional View of White Married Men," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(3), pages 329-346.
    12. Niels Vermeer, 2016. "Age Anchors and the Expected Retirement Age: An Experimental Study," De Economist, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 255-279, September.
    13. Hans G. Bloemen, 2011. "The Effect of Private Wealth on the Retirement Rate: An Empirical Analysis," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 78(312), pages 637-655, October.
    14. Arden Hall & Terry R. Johnson, 1980. "The Determinants of Planned Retirement Age," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 33(2), pages 241-254, January.
    15. Kathleen McGarry, 2004. "Health and Retirement: Do Changes in Health Affect Retirement Expectations?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(3).
    16. Fields, Gary S. & Mitchell, Olivia S., 1984. "The effects of social security reforms on retirement ages and retirement incomes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1-2), pages 143-159, November.
    17. Romain Duval, 2004. "Retirement Behaviour in OECD Countries: Impact of Old-Age Pension Schemes and other Social Transfer Programmes," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2003(2), pages 7-50.
    18. Gopi Shah Goda & John B. Shoven & Sita Nataraj Slavov, 2011. "What Explains Changes in Retirement Plans during the Great Recession?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 29-34, May.
    19. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3261-3307 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Gary Burtless, 2013. "Can Educational Attainment Explain the Rise in Labor Force Participation at Older Ages?," Issues in Brief ib2013-13, Center for Retirement Research.
    21. Dwyer, Debra Sabatini & Mitchell, Olivia S., 1999. "Health problems as determinants of retirement: Are self-rated measures endogenous?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 173-193, April.
    22. Coile Courtney C & Levine Phillip B, 2011. "The Market Crash and Mass Layoffs: How the Current Economic Crisis May Affect Retirement," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-42, April.
    23. Montalto, Catherine Phillips & Yuh, Yoonkyung & Hanna, Sherman, 2000. "Determinants of planned retirement age," Financial Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, 00.
    24. Gary Burtless, 1986. "Social Security, Unanticipated Benefit Increases, and the Timing of Retirement," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(5), pages 781-805.
    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. Tomasz Jedynak, 2022. "Does the Formulation of the Decision Problem Affect Retirement?—Framing Effect and Planned Retirement Age," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-30, February.
    2. Frank van Erp & Niels Vermeer & Daniel van Vuuren, 2013. "Non-financial determinants of retirement," CPB Discussion Paper 243.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Frank van Erp & Niels Vermeer & Daniel van Vuuren, 2013. "Non-financial determinants of retirement," CPB Discussion Paper 243, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    4. Heidler, Matthias & Raffelhüschen, Bernd & Leifels, Arne, 2006. "Heterogenous life expectancy, adverse selection, and retirement behaviour," FZG Discussion Papers 13, University of Freiburg, Research Center for Generational Contracts (FZG).
    5. Blundell, R. & French, E. & Tetlow, G., 2016. "Retirement Incentives and Labor Supply," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 457-566, Elsevier.
    6. Frank Erp & Niels Vermeer & Daniel Vuuren, 2014. "Non-financial Determinants of Retirement: A Literature Review," De Economist, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 167-191, June.
    7. Erik Meijer & Arie Kapteyn & Tatiana Andreyeva, 2008. "Health Indexes and Retirement Modeling in International Comparisons," Working Papers 614, RAND Corporation.
    8. Zweimüller, Josef & Staubli, Stefan, 2011. "Does Raising the Retirement Age Increase Employment of Older Workers?," CEPR Discussion Papers 8510, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Kuhn, Michael & Wrzaczek, Stefan & Prskawetz, Alexia & Feichtinger, Gustav, 2015. "Optimal choice of health and retirement in a life-cycle model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 158(PA), pages 186-212.
    10. Manoj K Pandey, 2009. "Labor Force Participation among Indian Elderly: Does Health Matter?," Working Papers id:1987, eSocialSciences.
    11. Bernal Lobato, N., 2014. "Essays in applied microeconomics," Other publications TiSEM 9b638b3d-2f83-452a-b2c8-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Noelia Bernal & Frederic Vermeulen, 2014. "The Impact of an Increase in the Legal Retirement Age on the Effective Retirement Age," De Economist, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 115-145, June.
    13. Manoj K. Pandey, 2009. "Labor Force Participation among Indian Elderly: Does Health Matter?," ASARC Working Papers 2009-11, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
    14. Courtney C. Coile, 2015. "Economic Determinants Of Workers’ Retirement Decisions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 830-853, September.
    15. Romain Duval & Mehmet Eris & Davide Furceri, 2011. "The Effects of Downturns on Labour Force Participation: Evidence and Causes," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 875, OECD Publishing.
    16. Hanel, Barbara & Riphahn, Regina T., 2012. "The timing of retirement — New evidence from Swiss female workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 718-728.
    17. Pandey, Manoj K., 2009. "Labor force participation among Indian elderly: does health matter?," MPRA Paper 15394, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Jorge González, 2008. "Commuting costs and labor force retirement," Working Papers. Serie AD 2008-19, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    19. Даниелян, Владимир, 2016. "Детерминанты Пенсионного Возраста: Обзор Исследований [Determinants of Retirement Age: A Review of Research]," MPRA Paper 73865, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Karakaya, Güngör, 2008. "Early cessation of activity in the labour market: impact of supply and demand factors," MPRA Paper 13390, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    retirement age; statutory retirement age; effective retirement age; professional activity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:sek:iefpro:8911262. 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: Klara Cermakova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://iises.net/ .

    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.