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The health gradient and early retirement: Evidence from the German Socio-economic Panel

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  • Hostenkamp, Gisela
  • Stolpe, Michael

Abstract

This paper examines the role of the health gradient – the positive correlation between household income and health – in individual retirement behavior, using data from the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP). We first estimate agegroup-specific health gradients and find their slope increases with age, but declines among retired workers. We then estimate a variety of parametric and semi-parametric duration models and find that workers' position relative to the agegroup-specific health gradient has about the same explanatory power as self-assessed health and income together. We argue our method promises better predictions of the long-term impact of policies affecting the health gradient on workers' timing of retirement amid population aging. Our findings also underline the importance of imperfect medical technology in reconciling the human capital theory of health demand with the observation of more rapid declines in health among less educated workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Hostenkamp, Gisela & Stolpe, Michael, 2006. "The health gradient and early retirement: Evidence from the German Socio-economic Panel," Kiel Working Papers 1305, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1305
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    Cited by:

    1. Hostenkamp, Gisela & Stolpe, Michael, 2008. "Optimal health and retirement policies amid population aging," Kiel Working Papers 1428, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Hostenkamp, Gisela & Stolpe, Michael, 2008. "The social costs of health-related early retirement in Germany: Evidence from the German Socio-economic panel," Kiel Working Papers 1415, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Schneider, Julia & Beblo, Miriam, 2010. "Health at work - indicators and determinants : a revised literature and data review for Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201017, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retirement behaviour; Duration analysis; Germany; Health gradient;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

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