IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/itaxpf/v24y2017i3d10.1007_s10797-016-9427-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What happens to the husband’s retirement decision when the wife’s retirement incentives change?

Author

Listed:
  • Håkan Selin

    (Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU)
    Uppsala University)

Abstract

In this paper, I exploit population-wide administrative data and a Swedish occupational pension reform, which primarily affected a subgroup of female workers, to recover the effect of the wife’s retirement incentive on the husband’s retirement behavior. I estimate a sharp relative decrease in the retirement probability of 63-year-old wives who were treated by the reform. However, there was no significant response of their husbands, and this finding is surprisingly robust. This suggests that cross-effects (from the wife to the husband) are substantially smaller than the direct effects of the wife’s own incentive on the wife’s retirement.

Suggested Citation

  • Håkan Selin, 2017. "What happens to the husband’s retirement decision when the wife’s retirement incentives change?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(3), pages 432-458, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:24:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10797-016-9427-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-016-9427-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10797-016-9427-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10797-016-9427-y?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Baker, 2002. "The Retirement Behavior of Married Couples: Evidence from the Spouse's Allowance," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(1), pages 1-34.
    2. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 2004. "Social security, pensions and retirement behaviour within the family," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 723-737.
    3. 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.
    4. Bo Honoré & Áureo de Paula, 2011. "Interdependent Durations in Joint Retirement," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2011-5, Center for Retirement Research, revised Feb 2011.
    5. Daniel Hallberg, 2011. "Economic Fluctuations and Retirement of Older Employees," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 25(3), pages 287-307, September.
    6. Liebman, Jeffrey B. & Luttmer, Erzo F.P. & Seif, David G., 2009. "Labor supply responses to marginal Social Security benefits: Evidence from discontinuities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1208-1223, December.
    7. Day Manoli & Andrea Weber, 2016. "Nonparametric Evidence on the Effects of Financial Incentives on Retirement Decisions," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 160-182, November.
    8. Mårten Palme & Ingemar Svensson, 2004. "Income Security Programs and Retirement in Sweden," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Micro-Estimation, pages 579-642, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Brown, Kristine M., 2013. "The link between pensions and retirement timing: Lessons from California teachers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-14.
    10. Elena Stancanelli, 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours of Work Outcomes : Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity," Post-Print halshs-00755648, HAL.
    11. 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.
    12. Zweimuller, Josef & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf & Falkinger, Josef, 1996. "Retirement of spouses and social security reform," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 449-472, February.
    13. Selin, Håkan, 2011. "What happens to the husband’s retirement decision when the wife’s retirement incentives change?," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2011:8, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    14. Laun, Tobias & Wallenius, Johanna, 2015. "A life cycle model of health and retirement: The case of Swedish pension reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 127-136.
    15. Michaud, Pierre-Carl & Vermeulen, Frederic, 2011. "A collective labor supply model with complementarities in leisure: Identification and estimation by means of panel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 159-167, April.
    16. Hagen, Johannes, 2016. "What are the Health effects of postponing retirement? An instrumental variable approach," Working Paper Series 2016:11, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    17. Kanika Kapur & Jeannette Rogowski, 2007. "The Role of Health Insurance in Joint Retirement among Married Couples," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(3), pages 397-407, April.
    18. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    19. Frederic Vermeulen, 2002. "Collective Household Models: Principles and Main Results," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 533-564, September.
    20. Stancanelli, Elena G. F., 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours Outcomes: Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity with Differences-in-Differences," IZA Discussion Papers 6791, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Alexander M. Gelber & Damon Jones & Daniel W. Sacks, 2013. "Earnings Adjustment Frictions: Evidence From Social Security Earnings Test," Working Papers 13-50, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    22. Atalay, Kadir & Barrett, Garry F., 2016. "Pension Incentives and the Retirement Decisions of Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 10013, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    23. Coile Courtney, 2004. "Retirement Incentives and Couples' Retirement Decisions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-30, July.
    24. David A. Wise, 1990. "Issues in the Economics of Aging," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number wise90-1, March.
    25. Vermeulen, Frederic, 2002. "Collective Household Models: Principles and Main Results," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 533-564, September.
    26. Alexander M. Gelber, 2014. "Taxation and the Earnings of Husbands and Wives: Evidence from Sweden," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(2), pages 287-305, May.
    27. Tammy Schirle, 2008. "Why Have the Labor Force Participation Rates of Older Men Increased since the Mid-1990s?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(4), pages 549-594, October.
    28. Gustman, Alan L & Steinmeier, Thomas L, 2000. "Retirement in Dual-Career Families: A Structural Model," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(3), pages 503-545, July.
    29. Mark Y. An & Bent Jesper Christensen & Nabanita Datta Gupta, 2004. "Multivariate mixed proportional hazard modelling of the joint retirement of married couples," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 687-704.
    30. Gary Burtless, 1986. "Social Security, Unanticipated Benefit Increases, and the Timing of Retirement," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(5), pages 781-805.
    31. Anders Karlström & Mårten Palme & Ingemar Svensson, 2011. "Assessing the welfare change from a pension reform," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(6), pages 634-657, December.
    32. Jonathan Cribb & Carl Emmerson & Gemma Tetlow, 2013. "Incentives, shocks or signals: labour supply effects of increasing the female state pension age in the UK," IFS Working Papers W13/03, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    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. García-Miralles, Esteban & Leganza, Jonathan M., 2024. "Joint retirement of couples: Evidence from discontinuities in Denmark," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    2. Lisa Laun & Mårten Palme, 2018. "The Recent Rise of Labor Force Participation of Older Workers in Sweden," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer, pages 231-265, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Todd Morris, 2022. "The unequal burden of retirement reform: Evidence from Australia," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 592-619, April.
    4. Lisa Laun & Mårten Palme, 2023. "Pension Reform, Incentives to Retire and Retirement Behavior: Empirical Evidence from Swedish Microdata," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Effects of Reforms on Retirement Behavior, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Todd Morris & Benoit Dostie, 2023. "Graying and staying on the job: The welfare implications of employment protection for older workers," Cahiers de recherche / Working Papers 15, Institut sur la retraite et l'épargne / Retirement and Savings Institute.
    6. Moghadam, Hamed Markazi & Puhani, Patrick & Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2023. "Pension Reforms and Couples' Labour Supply Decisions," Economics Working Paper Series 2304, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    7. Geyer, Johannes & Haan, Peter & Hammerschmid, Anna & Peters, Michael, 2020. "Labor Market and Distributional Effects of an Increase in the Retirement Age," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Herman Kruse, 2021. "Joint Retirement in Couples: Evidence of Complementarity in Leisure," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(3), pages 995-1024, July.
    9. Julian Vedeler Johnsen & Kjell Vaage & Alexander Willén, 2022. "Interactions in Public Policies: Spousal Responses and Program Spillovers of Welfare Reforms," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(642), pages 834-864.
    10. Kadir Atalay & Garry F. Barrett & Peter Siminski, 2019. "Pension incentives and the joint retirement of couples: evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 735-767, July.
    11. Johannes Hagen, 2018. "The effects of increasing the normal retirement age on health care utilization and mortality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 193-234, January.

    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. Selin, Håkan, 2011. "What happens to the husband’s retirement decision when the wife’s retirement incentives change?," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2011:8, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    2. Blundell, R. & French, E. & Tetlow, G., 2016. "Retirement Incentives and Labor Supply," 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 457-566, Elsevier.
    3. Lalive, Rafael & Parrotta, Pierpaolo, 2017. "How does pension eligibility affect labor supply in couples?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 177-188.
    4. Warren, Diana A., 2015. "Retirement decisions of couples in Australia: The impact of spousal characteristics and preferences," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 149-162.
    5. Cetin, Sefane & Jousten, Alain, 2022. "Retirement Decision of Belgian Couples and the Impact of the Social Security System," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2022024, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    6. Atalay, Kadir & Barrett, Garry F., 2016. "Pension Incentives and the Retirement Decisions of Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 10013, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Laun, Lisa, 2017. "The effect of age-targeted tax credits on labor force participation of older workers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 102-118.
    8. Diana Warren, 2013. "Retirement Decisions of Couples: The Impact of Spousal Characteristics and Preferences on the Timing of Retirement," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2013n41, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    9. Stancanelli, Elena G. F., 2016. "Couples' Retirement under Individual Pension Design: A Regression Discontinuity Study for France," IZA Discussion Papers 10322, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Bo Honoré & Thomas Jørgensen & Áureo de Paula, 2020. "The informativeness of estimation moments," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 797-813, November.
    11. García-Miralles, Esteban & Leganza, Jonathan M., 2024. "Joint retirement of couples: Evidence from discontinuities in Denmark," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    12. Marco Bertoni & Giorgio Brunello, 2014. "Pappa Ante Portas: The Retired Husband Syndrome in Japan," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0182, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    13. Vipul Bhatt, 2017. "Cohort Differences in Joint Retirement: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 475-495, December.
    14. Nagore García, Amparo & van Soest, Arthur, 2022. "Joint retirement behaviour and pension reform in the Netherlands," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    15. Michaud, Pierre-Carl, 2003. "Joint Labour Supply Dynamics of Older Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 832, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Julian Vedeler Johnsen & Kjell Vaage & Alexander Willén, 2022. "Interactions in Public Policies: Spousal Responses and Program Spillovers of Welfare Reforms," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(642), pages 834-864.
    17. Boyle, Melissa A. & Lahey, Joanna N., 2016. "Spousal labor market effects from government health insurance: Evidence from a veterans affairs expansion," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 63-76.
    18. Queiroz, Bernardo L. & Souza, Laeticia R., 2017. "Retirement incentives and couple’s retirement decisions in Brazil," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 1-13.
    19. Johnsen, Julian V. & Vaage, Kjell, 2015. "Spouses’ retirement and the take-up of disability pension," Working Papers in Economics 03/15, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    20. Hamed Moghadam & Patrick Puhani & Joanna Tyrowicz, 2023. "Pension Reforms and Couples Labour Supply Decisions," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2309, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Joint retirement; Retirement age; Occupational pensions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

    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:kap:itaxpf:v:24:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10797-016-9427-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.