Knowledge about how elderly workers react to changes in pension benefits is important in guiding the design of social security systems. This paper contributes to this knowledge by examining the effect of changed replacement rates on part-time retirement behaviour in Sweden. During the 1980s, older workers had the option of partial retirement with an income replacement of 65 percent. The replacement rate was lowered to 50 percent in 1981 and subsequently increased back to 65 percent in 1987. Estimates using a linear probability model with register data from the LINDA database suggest that fewer men and women chose part-time retirement after the reduction in benefit levels in 1981. There was an approximate 4 percentage point drop in the partial retirement propensity among eligible 60-year old men, and a 5.7 percent drop among women. This corresponds to proportional reductions in the retirement propensity by about 29 and 36 percent respectively. The probability of part-time retirement increased among men by about 3.5 percentage points once benefit levels were increased again, whereas the partial retirement probability of women remained largely unchanged.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Uppsala University, Department of Economics in its series Working Paper Series with number
2008:8.
Length: 30 pages Date of creation: 18 Nov 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2008_008
Contact details of provider: Postal: Department of Economics, Uppsala University, P. O. Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden Phone: + 46 18 471 25 00 Fax: + 46 18 471 14 78 Email: Web page: http://www.nek.uu.se/ More information through EDIRC
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Find related papers by JEL classification: H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
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