IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hka/wpaper/2021-041.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Why Are Older Men Working More? The Role of Social Security

Author

Listed:
  • Zhixiu Yu

    (University of Minnesota)

Abstract

The labor supply of older men increased from the 1930s to the 1950s cohort. This paper investigates the role of three Social Security reforms in explaining these differences: a delayed normal retirement age, increased delayed retirement credits, and a change in the earnings test that was eliminated beyond the retirement age, and it evaluates the effects of several additional Social Security reforms on individuals’ behaviors. I develop and estimate a rich dynamic life-cycle model of labor supply, savings, and Social Security application that captures the key structure of the Social Security retirement benefits, disability insurance, and pension system, while taking into account uncertainties in health, survival, wages, and medical expenditures. he model is estimated using the Method of Simulated Moments, and it matches well the observed life-cycle profiles of employment, hours worked by workers, and savings for healthy and unhealthy men in the 1930s birth cohort from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics data. It shows that the three changes in Social Security rules jointly account for over 73% of the observed rises in labor force participation and hours per worker by the 1950s cohort, with the reform to the Social Security earnings test being the most important. Additional policy experiments suggest that fully eliminating the earnings test and reducing retirement benefits by 23% would further increase older-age participation by 3.4% and 5.1%, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhixiu Yu, 2021. "Why Are Older Men Working More? The Role of Social Security," Working Papers 2021-041, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2021-041
    Note: M
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Yu_2021_trends-labor-supply-older-men-soc-sec.pdf
    File Function: First version, May 17, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Yu_2021_trends-labor-supply-older-men-soc-sec_rev1.pdf
    File Function: Second version, December 2022
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Yu_2021_trends-labor-supply-older-men-soc-sec_rev2.pdf
    File Function: Second version, November 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bairoliya, Neha, 2019. "Pension plan heterogeneity and retirement behavior," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 28-59.
    2. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hamish Low, 2005. "Self-Insurance in a Life-Cycle Model of Labor Supply and Savings," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 8(4), pages 945-975, October.
    4. Orazio Attanasio & Hamish Low & Virginia Sánchez-Marcos, 2008. "Explaining Changes in Female Labor Supply in a Life-Cycle Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1517-1552, September.
    5. Hubbard, R Glenn & Skinner, Jonathan & Zeldes, Stephen P, 1995. "Precautionary Saving and Social Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(2), pages 360-399, April.
    6. David Wiczer & Amanda Michaud, 2017. "The Disability Option: Labor Market Dynamics with Macroeconomic and Health Risks," 2017 Meeting Papers 1459, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Erosa, Andrés & Fuster, Luisa & Kambourov, Gueorgui, 2012. "Labor supply and government programs: A cross-country analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 84-107.
    8. John Rust & Christopher Phelan, 1997. "How Social Security and Medicare Affect Retirement Behavior in a World of Incomplete Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(4), pages 781-832, July.
    9. David M. Blau & Donna B. Gilleskie, 2008. "The Role Of Retiree Health Insurance In The Employment Behavior Of Older Men," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(2), pages 475-514, May.
    10. Mariacristina De Nardi, 2004. "Wealth Inequality and Intergenerational Links," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(3), pages 743-768.
    11. Max Groneck & Johanna Wallenius, 2021. "It Sucks to Be Single! Marital Status and Redistribution of Social Security [Female labor supply as insurance against idiosyncratic risk]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 327-371.
    12. Tobias Laun & Johanna Wallenius, 2016. "Social Insurance and Retirement: A Cross-Country Perspective," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 22, pages 72-92, October.
    13. Haan, Peter & Prowse, Victoria, 2014. "Longevity, life-cycle behavior and pension reform," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 178(P3), pages 582-601.
    14. Park, Seonyoung, 2018. "A structural explanation of recent changes in life-cycle labor supply and fertility behavior of married women in the United States," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 129-168.
    15. Richard Rogerson & Johanna Wallenius, 2022. "Shocks, Institutions, and Secular Changes in Employment of Older Individuals," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 177-216.
    16. Nezih Guner & Remzi Kaygusuz & Gustavo Ventura, 2012. "Taxation and Household Labour Supply," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(3), pages 1113-1149.
    17. Kenneth L. Judd, 1998. "Numerical Methods in Economics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262100711, December.
    18. Svetlana Pashchenko & Ponpoje Porapakkarm, 2019. "Reducing Medical Spending of the Publicly Insured: The Case for a Cash-out Option," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 390-426, August.
    19. Leora Friedberg, 2000. "The Labor Supply Effects of the Social Security Earnings Test," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 48-63, February.
    20. Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Jonathan A. Parker, 2002. "Consumption Over the Life Cycle," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(1), pages 47-89, January.
    21. Selahattin Imrohoroglu & Sagiri Kitao, 2012. "Social Security Reforms: Benefit Claiming, Labor Force Participation, and Long-Run Sustainability," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 96-127, July.
    22. James J. Heckman, 1976. "Introduction to "Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4"," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Gary V. Engelhardt & Anil Kumar, 2014. "Taxes and the Labor Supply of Older Americans: Recent Evidence From the Social Security Earnings Test," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 67(2), pages 443-458, June.
    24. Tammy Schirle, 2008. "Why Have the Labor Force Participation Rates of Older Men Increased since the Mid-1990s?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(4), pages 549-594, October.
    25. R. Anton Braun & Karen A. Kopecky & Tatyana Koreshkova, 2017. "Old, Sick, Alone, and Poor: A Welfare Analysis of Old-Age Social Insurance Programmes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(2), pages 580-612.
    26. David M. Blau & Ryan M. Goodstein, 2010. "Can Social Security Explain Trends in Labor Force Participation of Older Men in the United States?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(2).
    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. 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.
    2. Jones, John Bailey & Li, Yue, 2018. "The effects of collecting income taxes on Social Security benefits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 128-145.
    3. Bairoliya, Neha, 2019. "Pension plan heterogeneity and retirement behavior," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 28-59.
    4. Eric French & John Bailey Jones, 2017. "Health, Health Insurance, and Retirement: A Survey," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 383-409, September.
    5. Irina Merkurieva, 2018. "Late Career Job Loss and the Decision to Retire," Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics and Finance 201606, School of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.
    6. Wallenius, Johanna, 2022. "R(a)ising employment of older individuals," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    7. Feng, Zhigang & Zhao, Kai, 2018. "Employment-based health insurance and aggregate labor supply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 156-174.
    8. Eric French & John Bailey Jones, 2011. "The Effects of Health Insurance and Self‐Insurance on Retirement Behavior," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 693-732, May.
    9. Mariacristina De Nardi & Eric French & John B. Jones, 2010. "Why Do the Elderly Save? The Role of Medical Expenses," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(1), pages 39-75, February.
    10. Das, Debasmita, 2022. "Child-rearing, Social Security and Married Women’s Labor Supply over the Life Cycle," MPRA Paper 117614, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Sep 2022.
    11. Hugo Benitez-Silva, 2000. "A Dynamic Model Of Labor Supply, Consumption/Saving, And Annuity Decisions Under Uncertainty," Computing in Economics and Finance 2000 128, Society for Computational Economics.
    12. Hugo Benítez-Silva, 2003. "The Annuity Puzzle Revisited," Working Papers wp055, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    13. Masayuki Okada, 2023. "The optimal earnings test and retirement behavior," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(4), pages 1036-1068, August.
    14. Maria Casanova-Rivas, 2008. "Dynamic Complementarities: A Computational and Empirical Analysis of Couples' Retirement Decisions," 2008 Meeting Papers 1073, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Mariacristina De Nardi & Eric French & John Bailey Jones, 2016. "Medicaid Insurance in Old Age," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(11), pages 3480-3520, November.
    16. Hugo Benítez-Silva & J. Ignacio García-Pérez & Sergi Jiménez-Martín, 2011. "The effects of employment uncertainty and wealth shocks on the labor supply and claiming behavior of older American workers," Economics Working Papers 1275, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    17. Luc Behaghel & David M. Blau, 2012. "Framing Social Security Reform: Behavioral Responses to Changes in the Full Retirement Age," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 41-67, November.
    18. Deng, Yuanyuan & Fang, Hanming & Hanewald, Katja & Wu, Shang, 2023. "Delay the Pension Age or Adjust the Pension Benefit? Implications for Labor Supply and Individual Welfare in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1192-1215.
    19. Lei Fang & Fang Yang, 2021. "Consumption and Hours between the United States and France," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2021-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    20. Kemptner, Daniel, 2019. "Health-related life cycle risks and public insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 227-245.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Security reform; retirement; labor force participation; health; older workers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    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:hka:wpaper:2021-041. 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: Jennifer Pachon (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mfichus.html .

    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.