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What Triggers Early Retirement? Results from Swiss Pension Funds

Author Info

  • Monika B�tler
  • Olivia Huguenin
  • Federica Teppa

Abstract

Early retirement is predominantly considered as the result of incentives set by social security and the tax system. But people seem to retire early even in the absence of such distortions as the Swiss example demonstrates. We look for determinants of early retirement, in particular the role of lifetime income and family status, using individual data from a selection of Swiss pension funds. Our findings suggest that affordability is a key determinant in retirement decisions: More affluent men, and � to a much smaller extent � women, tend to leave the work force earlier. The fact that early retirement has become much more prevalent in the last 15 years is another indicator for the importance of affordability as Switzerland's funded pension system has matured over that period leading to higher effective replacement rates. We also find sizeable differences in retirement behavior across marital status. These may be explained by a constrained rational choice based on differential mortality and the desire of couples to coordinate their entry into retirement. Jel�Classification: D91, H55

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Paper provided by Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department in its series DNB Working Papers with number 041.

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Date of creation: May 2005
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Handle: RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:041
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Keywords: Occupational Pension; Retirement decision; Duration models;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • D91 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
  • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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Cited by:

  1. Christian Keuschnigg & Mirela Keuschnigg & Christian Jaag, 2009. "Aging and the Financing of Social Security in Switzerland," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2009 2009-26, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
  2. Dorn, David & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2007. "'Voluntary' and 'Involuntary' Early Retirement: An International Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 2714, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Daniel Hallberg & Matias Eklöf, 2010. "Do buy-outs of older workers matter?: Estimating retirement behavior with special early retirement offers," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 31(3), pages 337-359, July.
  4. Bütler, Monika & Staubli, Stefan & Zito, Maria Grazia, 2008. "The Role of the Annuity's Value on the Decision (Not) to Annuitize: Evidence from a Large Policy Change," CEPR Discussion Papers 6930, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  5. Justina A.V. Fischer & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2006. "The Institutional Determinants of Early Retirement in Europe," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2006 2006-08, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
  6. Piekkola, Hannu & Deschryvere, Matthias, 2004. "Retirement Decisions and Option Values: Their Application Regarding Finland," Discussion Papers 951, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
  7. Marjan, MAES, 2008. "Financial and redistributive impact of reforming the old-age pension system in Belgium," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2008040, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques.
  8. Estelle James & Alejandra Cox Edwards, 2005. "Do Individual Accounts Postpone Retirement: Evidence from Chile," Working Papers wp098, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
  9. Monika Riedel & Helmut Hofer, 2013. "Determinants of the Transition from Work into Retirement," NRN working papers 2013-10, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.

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