Structural models explaining retirement decisions of individuals or households in an intertemporal setting are typically hard to estimate using data on actual retirement decisions, since choice sets are for a large part unobserved by the researcher. This paper describes an experiment in which both perceived retirement opportunities and preferences for retirement are measured. For the latter, respondents evaluate how attractive they find a number of hypothetical, simplified, retirement trajectories involving early retirement, late retirement, and gradual retirement, each with its own corresponding income path. The questions were fielded in the Dutch CentERpanel. The answers are used to estimate a stylized structural life-cycle model of retirement preferences. The results suggest that, for example, many respondents could be convinced to work part-time after age 65 before retiring completely at age 70 for a reasonable financial compensation. Simulations combining the information on perceived opportunities with estimated preferences illustrate the importance of employer imposed restrictions on retirement and the scope for increasing labor force participation of the elderly by creating opportunities for gradual retirement.
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number
2785.
Find related papers by JEL classification: C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Microeconomic Data J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
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André de Palma & Moshe Ben-Akiva & David Brownstone & Charles Holt & Thierry Magnac & Daniel McFadden & Peter Moffatt & Nathalie Picard & Kenneth Train & Peter Wakker & Joan Walker, 2008.
"Risk, Uncertainty and Discrete Choice Models,"
THEMA Working Papers
2008-02, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
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