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Fatal Attraction? Access to Early Retirement and Mortality

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  • Zweimüller, Josef
  • Wuellrich, Jean-Philippe
  • Kuhn, Andreas

Abstract

We estimate the causal e ffect of early retirement on mortality for blue-collar workers. To overcome the problem of endogenous selection, we exploit an exogenous change in unemployment insurance rules in Austria that allowed workers in eligible regions to withdraw from the workforce up to 3.5 years earlier than those in non-eligible regions. For males, instrumental-variable estimates show a significant 2.4 percentage points (about 13%) increasein the probability of dying before age 67. We do not find any adverse effect early retirement onmortality for females. Death causes indicate a significantly higher incidence of cardiovascular disorders among eligible workers, suggesting that changes in health-related behavior explain increased mortality among male early retirees.

Suggested Citation

  • Zweimüller, Josef & Wuellrich, Jean-Philippe & Kuhn, Andreas, 2010. "Fatal Attraction? Access to Early Retirement and Mortality," CEPR Discussion Papers 8024, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8024
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Endogeneity; Health behavior; Instrumental variable; Mortality; Premature death; Early retirement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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