IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/labour/v17y2003is1p79-114.html

Social Security Wealth and Retirement Decisions in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Agar Brugiavini
  • Franco Peracchi

Abstract

. This paper uses administrative data to study the retirement decisions of Italian private‐sector non‐agricultural employees during the period 1977–97. Our analysis tries to assess the importance of the financial incentives built into the social security system. The basic idea is very simple: at any given age, and based on the available information, workers compare the expected present value of two alternatives: retiring today or working one more year, and then choose the best one. A key role in this kind of comparisons is played by social security wealth, whose level and changes reflect the expectations about the profile of future earnings and the institutional features of the social security system. The various incentive measures that we consider differ in the precise weight given to the social security wealth that workers accrue as they continue to work. Our model does not provide a structural representation of the retirement process. A worker's decision is modeled here following a ‘quasi reduced‐form’ approach, with the incentive measures entering as predictors of the worker's choice in addition to standard variables. The estimated models are then used to predict retirement probabilities under alternative policies that change social security wealth and derived incentive measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Agar Brugiavini & Franco Peracchi, 2003. "Social Security Wealth and Retirement Decisions in Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 17(s1), pages 79-114, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:17:y:2003:i:s1:p:79-114
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-9914.17.specialissue.4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9914.17.specialissue.4
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-9914.17.specialissue.4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raffaele Miniaci, 1998. "Microeconometric Analysis of the Retirement Decision: Italy," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 205, OECD Publishing.
    2. Raffaele Miniaci & Elena Stancanelli, 1998. "Microeconometric Analysis of the Retirement Decision: United Kingdom," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 206, OECD Publishing.
    3. Courtney Coile & Jonathan Gruber, 2001. "Social Security Incentives for Retirement," NBER Chapters, in: Themes in the Economics of Aging, pages 311-354, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Luca Spataro, 2000. "Le scelte di pensionamento in Italia: un'applicazione (ed estensione) del modello Option Value," STUDI ECONOMICI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2000(72).
    5. Graziella Caselli & Franco Peracchi & Elisabetta Barbi & Rosa Maria Lipsi, 2003. "Differential Mortality and the Design of the Italian System of Public Pensions," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 17(s1), pages 45-78, August.
    6. Jonathan Gruber & David A. Wise, 1999. "Social Security and Retirement around the World," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub99-1, August.
    7. Martin Feldstein & Horst Siebert, 2002. "Social Security Pension Reform in Europe," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number feld02-2, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elena Giarda, 2008. "The worsening of wage expectations in Italy: a study based on administrative data," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(1), pages 64-87, March.
    2. Agar Brugiavini & Franco Peracchi, 2010. "Youth Unemployment and Retirement of the Elderly: The Case of Italy," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Relationship to Youth Employment, pages 167-215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Agar Brugiavini & Raluca Elena Buia & Giacomo Pasini & Guglielmo Weber, 2019. "The Evolution of Incentives for Retirement in Italy, 1980–2015," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Reforms and Retirement Incentives, pages 227-269, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Carlo Mazzaferro & Stefano Toso, 2009. "The Distribution Of Total Wealth In Italy: 1991–2002," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 779-802, September.
    5. Michele Belloni & Rob Alessie, 2008. "The Importance of Financial Incentives on Retirement Choices," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-052/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Raquel Fonseca & Thepthida Sopraseuth, 2005. "Welfare Effects of Social Security Reforms Across Europe : the Case of France and Italy," CSEF Working Papers 138, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    7. Roberto Leombruni & Matteo Richiardi, 2006. "LABORsim: An Agent-Based Microsimulation of Labour Supply – An Application to Italy," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 63-88, February.
    8. Antonio Abatemarco & Maria Russolillo, 2023. "The Dynamics of the Gender Gap at Retirement in Italy: Evidence from SHARE," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(2), pages 445-473, July.
    9. Michele Belloni & Rob Alessie, 2013. "Retirement Choices in Italy: What an Option Value Model Tells Us," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(4), pages 499-527, August.
    10. Emanuele Ciani & Marcello Morciano, 2011. "Estimation and Simulation of Earnings in IT-SILC," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0090, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    11. Raquel Fonseca & Thepthida Sopraseuth, 2005. "Welfare Effects of Social Security Reforms Across Europe : the Case of France and Italy," CSEF Working Papers 138, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    12. Belloni, Michele & Alessie, Rob, 2009. "The importance of financial incentives on retirement choices: New evidence for Italy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 578-588, October.
    13. Agnese Romiti & Maria Cristina Rossi, 2011. "Should we Retire Earlier in order to Look After our Parents? The Role of immigrants," CeRP Working Papers 124, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).
    14. Giuseppe Carone, 2005. "Long-term labour force projections for the 25 EU Member States: A set of data for assessing the economic impact of ageing," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 235, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    15. Isabel Cairó-Blanco, 2010. "An empirical analysis of retirement behaviour in Spain: partial versus full retirement," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 325-356, July.
    16. Ranzani, Marco, 2006. "Social Security and Labour Supply: the Italian 1992 Reform as a Natural Experiment," MPRA Paper 16569, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Dec 2008.

    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. Luca Spataro, 2003. "Social Security And Retirement Decisions In Italy," Discussion Papers 2003/1, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    2. Spataro, Luca, 2005. "Social security incentives and retirement decisions in Italy: An empirical insight," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 223-256, September.
    3. Ugo Colombino, 2003. "A Simple Intertemporal Model of Retirement Estimated On Italian Cross‐Section Data," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 17(s1), pages 115-137, August.
    4. Michele Belloni & Rob Alessie, 2008. "The Importance of Financial Incentives on Retirement Choices," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-052/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Luca Spataro, 2002. "New Tools in Micromodeling Retirement Decisions: Overview and Applications to the Italian Case," CeRP Working Papers 28, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).
    6. Belloni, Michele & Alessie, Rob, 2009. "The importance of financial incentives on retirement choices: New evidence for Italy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 578-588, October.
    7. Agar Brugiavini & Franco Peracchi & David A. Wise, 2002. "Pensions and Retirement Incentives. A Tale of Three Countries: Italy, Spain and the USA," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 61(2), pages 131-169, December.
    8. Agar Brugiavini & Franco Peracchi, 2004. "Micro-Modeling of Retirement Behavior in Italy," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Micro-Estimation, pages 345-398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ranzani, Marco, 2006. "Social Security and Labour Supply: the Italian 1992 Reform as a Natural Experiment," MPRA Paper 16569, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Dec 2008.
    10. Hanel, Barbara, 2010. "Financial incentives to postpone retirement and further effects on employment -- Evidence from a natural experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 474-486, June.
    11. John Bongaarts, 2004. "Population Aging and the Rising Cost of Public Pensions," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(1), pages 1-23, March.
    12. Alexander M. Gelber & Damon Jones & Daniel W. Sacks, 2013. "Estimating Earnings Adjustment Frictions: Method and Evidence from the Social Security Earnings Test," NBER Working Papers 19491, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Raquel Vegas Sánchez & Isabel Argimón & Marta Botella & Clara González, 2013. "Old age pensions and retirement in Spain," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 273-307, August.
    14. Shuolin Shi & Ralf A. Wilke, 2022. "Variable selection with group structure: exiting employment at retirement age—a competing risks quantile regression analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 119-155, January.
    15. Kaschützke, B. & Maurer, R., 2016. "Investing and Portfolio Allocation for Retirement," 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 567-608, Elsevier.
    16. Simonovits, András & Eső, Péter, 2003. "Optimális járadékfüggvény tervezése rugalmas nyugdíjrendszerre [Designing optimal benefit rules for flexible retirement]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 99-111.
    17. Brugiavini, Agar & Galasso, Vincenzo, 2004. "The social security reform process in Italy: where do we stand?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 165-195, July.
    18. Christian Keuschnigg & Mirela Keuschnigg & Christian Jaag, 2011. "Aging and the Financing of Social Security in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 147(II), pages 181-231, June.
    19. Brown, Alessio J.G. & Fraikin, Anne-Lore, 2022. "The old-age pension household replacement rate in Belgium," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    20. Christoph Borgmann & Matthias Heidler, 2003. "Demographics and Volatile Social Security Wealth: Political Risks of Benefit Rule Changes in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 1021, CESifo.

    More about this item

    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:bla:labour:v:17:y:2003:i:s1:p:79-114. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csrotit.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.