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To work or not to work? The effect of higher pension age on cardiovascular health

Author

Listed:
  • Chiara Ardito
  • Roberto Leombruni
  • David Blane
  • Angelo d'Errico

Abstract

The study explores the possible unintended health effects of reforms aimed at making eligibility criteria for occupational retirement more severe. The causal link between retirement age and hospitalization for cardiovascular diseases is investigated in a large sample of male Italian retirees (N=94,521). Endogeneity is addressed by an Instrumental Variable identification strategy, in a quasi-natural experiment set-up. The instrument exploits the variation in pension age determined by the standardization of the labour market transitions, which induce workers born during the first months of the year to retire at an older age. The analysis is performed on a longitudinal dataset that combines several Italian administrative archives on pensions, working histories and hospitalization. Results show a significant health detrimental effect of extended working life. A one-year delay in retirement increases the incidence of hospitalization for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) at 68-70 years old by 2.4 percentage points (p-value

Suggested Citation

  • Chiara Ardito & Roberto Leombruni & David Blane & Angelo d'Errico, 2016. "To work or not to work? The effect of higher pension age on cardiovascular health," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 150, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:cca:wplabo:150
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    File URL: http://www.laboratoriorevelli.it/_pdf/wp150.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Manuel Serrano‐Alarcón & Chiara Ardito & Roberto Leombruni & Alexander Kentikelenis & Angelo d’Errico & Anna Odone & Giuseppe Costa & David Stuckler & IWGRH, 2023. "Health and labor market effects of an unanticipated rise in retirement age. Evidence from the 2012 Italian pension reform," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2745-2767, December.
    2. Mattia Filomena & Matteo Picchio, 2023. "Retirement and health outcomes in a meta‐analytical framework," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1120-1155, September.
    3. Fontana, Dario & Ardito, Chiara & Leombruni, Roberto & Strippoli, Elena & d’Errico, Angelo, 2024. "Does the time spent in retirement improve health? An IV-Poisson assessment on the incidence of cardiovascular diseases," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 354(C).
    4. Alberto Cabezas & Carlotta Montorsi, 2025. "Life Sequence Transformer: Generative Modelling of Socio-Economic Trajectories from Administrative Data," Papers 2506.01874, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2026.
    5. Carrino, Ludovico & Glaser, Karen & Avendano, Mauricio, 2018. "Later Pension, Poorer Health? Evidence from the New State Pension Age in the UK," MPRA Paper 87575, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Angelo d’Errico & Chiara Ardito & Roberto Leombruni & Fulvio Ricceri & Giuseppe Costa & Carlotta Sacerdote & Anna Odone, 2022. "Working Conditions and Health Among Italian Ageing Workers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1043-1067, August.
    7. Alessandro Cusimano & Chiara Paola Donegani & Stephen McKay, 2022. "Later pensions, lower social capital?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(4), pages 2150-2160.
    8. Kadir Atalay & Garry Barrett, 2022. "Retirement routes and the well-being of retirees," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2751-2784, November.
    9. Ardito Chiara, 2021. "The unequal impact of raising the retirement age: Employment response and program substitution," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-37, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • C36 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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