Social Security Programs and Retirement around t - Reforms and Retirement Incentives (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

This ninth phase of the International Social Security project, which studies the experiences of twelve developed countries, examines the effects of public pension reform on employment at older ages. In the past two decades, men’s labor force participation at older ages has increased, reversing a long-term pattern of decline; participation rates for older women have increased dramatically as well. While better health, more education, and changes in labor-supply behavior of married couples may have affected this trend, these factors alone cannot explain the magnitude of the employment increase or its large variation across countries.

The studies in this volume explore how financial incentives to work at older ages have evolved as a result of public pension reforms since 1980 and how these changes have affected retirement behavior. Utilizing a common template to analyze the developments across countries, the findings suggest that social security reforms have strengthened the financial returns to working at older ages and that these enhanced financial incentives have contributed to the rise in late-life employment.

Axel Börsch-Supan is director emeritus of the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy in Munich. He is executive director of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and advisor to the EU, World Bank, OECD, and several foreign governments. He is codirector of the NBER International Social Security project and a research associate at the NBER.

Courtney C. Coile is provost, Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College, and the Stanford Calderwood Professor of Economics at Wellesley College. She is codirector of the NBER International Social Security project and a research associate of the NBER.