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What Triggers Early Retirement ? Results from Swiss Pension Funds

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Author Info
Monika BÜTLER
Olivia HUGUENIN
Federica TEPPA

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Abstract

Early retirement is predominantly considered as the result of incentives set by social security and the tax system. But people seem to retire early even in the absence of such distortions as the Swiss example demonstrates. We look for determinants of early retirement, in particular the role of lifetime income and family status, using individual data from a selection of Swiss pension funds. Our findings suggest that affordability is a key determinant in retirement decisions: More affuent men, and - to a much smaller extent - women, tend to leave the work force earlier. The fact that early retirement has become much more prevalent in the last 15 years is another indicator for the importance of affordability as Switzerland's funded pension system has matured over that period leading to higher effective replacement rates.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP in its series Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'Econométrie et d'Economie politique (DEEP) with number 04.04.

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Length: 33 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:lau:crdeep:04.04

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Postal: Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne
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Related research
Keywords: occupational pension; retirement decision; duration models;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D91 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice and Growth - - - Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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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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Full references

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. Bütler, Monika & Staubli, Stefan & Zito, Maria Grazia, 2008. "The Role of the Annuity's Value on the Decision (Not) to Annuitize: Evidence from a Large Policy Change," CEPR Discussion Papers 6930, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Marjan, MAES, 2008. "Financial and redistributive impact of reforming the old-age pension system in Belgium," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2008040, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques. [Downloadable!]
  3. Justina A.V. Fischer & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2006. "The Institutional Determinants of Early Retirement in Europe," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2006 2006-08, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
  4. Hannu Piekkola & Matthias Deschryvere, 2004. "Retirement Decisions and Option Values: Their Application Regarding Finland," Discussion Papers 951, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. [Downloadable!]
  5. David Dorn & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2007. "‘Voluntary’ and ‘Involuntary’ Early Retirement: An International Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 2714, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Christian Keuschnigg & Mirela Keuschnigg & Christian Jaag, 2009. "Aging and the Financing of Social Security in Switzerland," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2009 2009-26, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
  7. Estelle James & Alejandra Cox Edwards, 2005. "Do Individual Accounts Postpone Retirement: Evidence from Chile," Working Papers wp098, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center. [Downloadable!]
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