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The effect of disability pension incentives on early retirement decisions

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  • Hanel, Barbara

Abstract

I investigate the incentive effects of disability pensions on disability retirement entry as a special type of early retirement. The implicit tax rate on further work is included as a forward looking incentive measure. A substantial change of the disability pension legislation caused exogenous variation in disability benefits in Germany in 2001 and is used to obtain estimates of individual's responses to financial incentives. Benefit levels appear to have no effect on the labour market behaviour. At the same time, there is a sizable and significant disincentive effect of implicit taxes on labour market income, indicating that alleviating such disincentives would likely increase labour force participation. Since the response to financial incentives occurs mainly among those in good health, such a policy might on the other hand imperil the aim of providing insurance against a health‐induced loss of one's working capacity.

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  • Hanel, Barbara, 2012. "The effect of disability pension incentives on early retirement decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 595-607.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:19:y:2012:i:4:p:595-607
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2012.05.011
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    Cited by:

    1. Robert E. Hall, 2015. "Quantifying the Lasting Harm to the US Economy from the Financial Crisis," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 71-128.
    2. Axel Börsch-Supan & Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Michela Coppola & Bettina Lamla, 2015. "Savings In Times Of Demographic Change: Lessons From The German Experience," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 807-829, September.
    3. Engels, Barbara & Geyer, Johannes & Haan, Peter, 2017. "Pension incentives and early retirement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 216-231.
    4. Zwick, Thomas & Bruns, Mona & Geyer, Johannes & Lorenz, Svenja, 2022. "Early retirement of employees in demanding jobs: Evidence from a German pension reform," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    5. Riphahn, Regina T. & Schrader, Rebecca, 2023. "Reforms of an early retirement pathway in Germany and their labor market effects," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 304-330, July.
    6. Matthias Giesecke, 2018. "The Effect of Benefit Reductions on the Retirement Age: The Heterogeneous Response of Manual and Non‐Manual Workers," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(1), pages 213-238, March.
    7. Ye, Han, 2018. "The Effect of Pension Subsidies on Retirement Timing of Older Women: Evidence from a Regression Kink Design," IZA Discussion Papers 11831, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Marijana Badun, 2017. "Determinants of disability pensions in Croatia: the role of institutions," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 41(1), pages 109-128.
    9. Regina T. Riphahn & Rebecca Schrader, 2020. "Labor market effects of early retirement reforms," Working Papers 199, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    10. Sahlgren, Gabriel H., 2012. "Work ‘til You Drop: Short- and Longer-Term Health Effects of Retirement in Europe," Working Paper Series 928, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    11. van der Velde, Lucas, 2022. "Phasing out: Routine tasks and retirement," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 784-803.
    12. Hernaes, Erik & Markussen, Simen & Piggott, John & Røed, Knut, 2023. "The Impact of Pension Reform on Employment, Retirement and Disability Insurance Claims," IZA Discussion Papers 16256, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Sylvain Chareyron & Naomie Mahmoudi, 2022. "The effects of disability benefits on the employment of low-skilled youth: Evidence from France," Erudite Working Paper 2022-09, Erudite.
    14. Agar Brugiavini & Petru Crudu, 2023. "The Role of Disability Insurance on the Labour Market Trajectories of Europeans," Working Papers 2023:20, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    15. Viktor Steiner, 2017. "The labor market for older workers in Germany [Der Arbeitsmarkt für ältere Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 50(1), pages 1-14, August.
    16. Laub, Natalie & Boockmann, Bernhard & Kroczek, Martin, 2023. "Tightening Access to Early Retirement: Who Can Adapt?," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277625, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Disability pensions; Labour force exit;

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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