This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Wealth Shocks and Retirement Timing: Evidence from the Nineties

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Purvi Sevak (Hunter College)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

This paper explores whether the timing of retirement responds to unexpected changes in wealth. Although the normality of leisure is a standard assumption in economic models, econometric support for it has not been consistent. The period of the 1990s allows a reexamination of this question because of the large and unexpected capital gains realized by many households. Using the 1992 to 1998 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, and two different identification strategies, I find evidence consistent with the theoretical expectations of wealth effects. Difference-in-differences estimates suggest that a $50,000 wealth shock would lead to a 1.9 percentage point increase in retirement probability among individuals ages 55 to 60. Estimates using panel data on savings and wealth find the elasticity of retirement flows between 1996 and 1998 with respect to wealth is between 0.39 and 0.50 for men.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/Papers/pdf/wp027.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center in its series Working Papers with number wp027.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 53 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mrr:papers:wp027

Contact details of provider:
Postal: P.O. Box 1248, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Phone: (734) 615-0422
Fax: (734) 647-4575
Email:
Web page: http://www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/papers/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (MRRC Administrator).

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

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.:
  1. Olivia S. Mitchell et al., 1999. "New Evidence on the Money's Worth of Individual Annuities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1299-1318, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Andrew A. Samwick, 1998. "New Evidence on Pensions, Social Security, and the Timing of Retirement," NBER Working Papers 6534, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Martin Feldstein & Elena Ranguelova, 2001. "Individual Risk in an Investment-Based Social Security System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1116-1125, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Burtless, Gary, 1986. "Social Security, Unanticipated Benefit Increases, and the Timing of Retirement," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(5), pages 781-805, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Michael D. Hurd, 1990. "The Joint Retirement Decision of Husbands and Wives," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Aging, pages 231-258 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Jonathan Gruber & Brigitte C. Madrian, 1993. "Health Insurance Availability and the Retirement Decision," NBER Working Papers 4469, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Kotlikoff, Laurence J & Spivak, Avia, 1981. "The Family as an Incomplete Annuities Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 372-91, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Juster, F. Thomas & Smith, James P. & Stafford, Frank, 1999. "The measurement and structure of household wealth," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 253-275, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Leora Friedberg & Anthony Webb, 2000. "The Impact of 401(k) Plans on Retirement," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 2000-30, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
  10. Ing-Haw Cheng & Eric French, 2000. "The effect of the run-up in the stock market on labor supply," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Q IV, pages 48-65. [Downloadable!]
  11. Blau, David M, 1998. "Labor Force Dynamics of Older Married Couples," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(3), pages 595-629, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Richard T. Curtin & Thomas Juster & James N. Morgan, 1989. "Survey Estimates of Wealth: An Assessment of Quality," NBER Chapters, in: The Measurement of Saving, Investment, and Wealth, pages 473-552 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  13. Poterba, James M. & Venti, Steven F. & Wise, David A., 1995. "Do 401(k) contributions crowd out other personal saving?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-32, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Sewin Chan & Ann Huff Stevens, 1999. "Job Loss and Retirement Behavior of Older Men," NBER Working Papers 6920, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale, 2000. "The Effects of 401(k) Plans on Household Wealth: Differences Across Earnings Groups," NBER Working Papers 8032, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Joulfaian, David & Rosen, Harvey S, 1993. "The Carnegie Conjecture: Some Empirical Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(2), pages 413-35, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 2001. "Retirement and Wealth," Working Papers wp002, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center. [Downloadable!]
  18. Gary Burtless, 2003. "How Would Financial Risk Affect Retirement Income Under Individual Accounts?," Issues in Brief ib-5, Center for Retirement Research. [Downloadable!]
  19. Miles S. Kimball & Matthew D. Shapiro, 2008. "Labor Supply: Are the Income and Substitution Effects Both Large or Both Small?," NBER Working Papers 14208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Karen E. Dynan & Dean M. Maki, 2001. "Does stock market wealth matter for consumption?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2001-23, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  21. Guido W. Imbens & Donald B. Rubin & Bruce Sacerdote, 1999. "Estimating the Effects of Unearned Income on Labor Supply, Earnings, Savings, and Consumption: Evidence from a Survey of Lottery Players," NBER Working Papers 7001, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Krueger, Alan B & Pischke, Jorn-Steffen, 1992. "The Effect of Social Security on Labor Supply: A Cohort Analysis of the Notch Generation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 412-37, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  23. Ashenfelter, Orley & Heckman, James J, 1974. "The Estimation of Income and Substitution Effects in a Model of Family Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 42(1), pages 73-85, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Andrew A. Samwick & Jonathan Skinner, 1998. "How Will Defined Contribution Pension Plans Affect Retirement Income?," NBER Working Papers 6645, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. F. Thomas Juster & James P. Smith, 2004. "Improving the Quality of Economic Data: Lessons from the HRS and AHEAD," Labor and Demography 0402010, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  26. Robert L. Clark & Joseph F. Quinn, 1999. "Effects of Pensions on Labor Markets and Retirement," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 431, Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  27. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 2001. "Retirement and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 8229, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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. Jeffrey R. Brown & Courtney C. Coile & Scott J. Weisbenner, 2006. "The Effect of Inheritance Receipt on Retirement," NBER Working Papers 12386, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Lucie Schmidt & Purvi Sevak, 2005. "Gender, Marriage, and Asset Accumulation in the United States," Working Papers wp109, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Julia Lynn Coronado & Maria Perozek, 2003. "Wealth effects and the consumption of leisure: retirement decisions during the stock market boom of the 1900s," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2003-20, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  4. Courtney C. Coile & Phillip B. Levine, 2004. "Bulls, Bears, and Retirement Behavior," NBER Working Papers 10779, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Hui Shan, 2008. "Property taxes and elderly labor supply," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2008-51, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  6. Gabor Kezdi & Purvi Sevak, 2004. "Economic Adjustment of Recent Retirees to Adverse Wealth Shocks," Working Papers wp075, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? RePEc also has a blog.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-4.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.