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The Health Gradient and Early Retirement: Evidence from the German Socio-economic Panel

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Author Info
Gisela Hostenkamp
Michael Stolpe

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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.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Kiel Institute for the World Economy in its series Kiel Working Papers with number 1305.

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Length: 44 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2006
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Handle: RePEc:kie:kieliw:1305

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Related research
Keywords: Health gradient; Retirement behaviour; Duration analysis; Germany;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production
J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
  2. Michaud, Pierre-Carl & van Soest, Arthur, 2004. "Health and Wealth of Elderly Couples: Causality Tests Using Dynamic Panel Data Models," IZA Discussion Papers 1312, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Deaton, A., 1998. "Aging and Inequality in Income and Health," Papers 181, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Development Studies.
    Other versions:
  4. Jonathan Gruber & David A. Wise, 2002. "Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Micro Estimation," NBER Working Papers 9407, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Frijters, Paul & Haisken-DeNew, John & Shields, Michael A., 2005. "Socio-Economic Status, Health Shocks, Life Satisfaction and Mortality: Evidence from an Increasing Mixed Proportional Hazard Model," IZA Discussion Papers 1488, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Andrew M. Jones & Eddy van Doorslaer & Teresa Bago d'Uva & Silvia Balia & Lynn Gambin & Cristina Hernández Quevedo & Xander Koolman & Nigel Rice, 2006. "Health and Wealth: Empirical Findings and Political Consequences," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 7(s1), pages 93-112, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Larsen, Mona & Datta Gupta, Nabanita, 2004. "The Impact of Health on Individual Retirement Plans: a Panel Analysis comparing Selfreported versus Diagnostic Measures," Working Papers 04-7, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Michaud, P.C. & Soest, A.H.O. van, 2004. "Health and wealth of elderly couples : causality tests using dynamic panel data," Discussion Paper 81, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  10. Adams, Peter & Hurd, Michael D. & McFadden, Daniel & Merrill, Angela & Ribeiro, Tiago, 2003. "Healthy, wealthy, and wise? Tests for direct causal paths between health and socioeconomic status," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 3-56, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Kathleen McGarry, 2002. "Health and Retirement: Do Changes in Health Affect Retirement Expectations?," NBER Working Papers 9317, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Muurinen, Jaana-Marja, 1982. "Demand for health: A generalised Grossman model," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 5-28, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. B.M.S. van Praag & B.E. Baarsma, 2001. "The Shadow Price of Aircraft Noise Nuisance," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 01-010/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Sikandar Siddiqui, 1997. "The impact of health on retirement behaviour: empirical evidence from West Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(4), pages 425-438.
  15. Anne Case & Angus S. Deaton, 2005. "Broken Down by Work and Sex: How Our Health Declines," NBER Chapters, in: Analyses in the Economics of Aging, pages 185-212 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Gisela Hostenkamp & Michael Stolpe, 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. [Downloadable!]
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