IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genres/10251.html

Labor Market Search and Optimal Retirement Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Bhattacharya, Joydeep
  • Mulligan, Casey
  • Reed, Robert

Abstract

A popular view about social security, dating back to its early days of inception, is that it is a means for young, unemployed workers to "purchase" jobs from older, employed workers. The question we ask is: Can social security, by encouraging retirement and hence creating job vacancies for the young, improve the allocation of workers to jobs in the labor market? Using a standard model of labor market search, we establish that the equilibrium with no policy-induced retirement can be efficient. Even under worst-case parameterizations of our model, we find that public retirement programs pay the elderly substantially more than labor market search theory implies that their jobs are worth. An important effect, ignored by the popular view, is that the creation of a vacant job by a retirement reduces the value of other vacant jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Mulligan, Casey & Reed, Robert, 2003. "Labor Market Search and Optimal Retirement Policy," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10251, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genres:10251
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/papers/p1829-2004-10-01.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Casey B. Mulligan, 2000. "Can Monopoly Unionism Explain Publicly Induced Retirement?," NBER Working Papers 7680, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jonathan Gruber & David A. Wise, 1999. "Social Security and Retirement around the World," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub99-1, September.
    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. Joydeep Bhattacharya & Robert R. Reed, 2006. "Social Security and Intergenerational Redistribution," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: Structural Models of Wage and Employment Dynamics, pages 183-213, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Mário Centeno & Márcio Corrêa, 2006. "Job Matching, Unexpected Obligations And Retirement Decisions," Anais do XXXIV Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 34th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 159, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    3. Coimbra, Leandro Willer P. & Ramos, Francisco de S., 2012. "Mecanismo de incentivo à renovação da mão-de-obra no mercado de trabalho face ao sistema previdenciário," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 66(4), December.
    4. J. García-Pérez & Alfonso Sánchez-Martín, 2015. "Fostering job search among older workers: the case for pension reform," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-34, December.
    5. Hairault, Jean-Olivier & Langot, François & Zylberberg, André, 2015. "Equilibrium unemployment and retirement," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 37-58.
    6. Dai, Tiantian & Fan, Hua & Liu, Xiangbo & Ma, Chao, 2022. "Delayed retirement policy and unemployment rates," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Reed, Robert R., 2003. "A positive theory of the income redistributive focus of social security," ISU General Staff Papers 200311260800001186, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    8. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Reed, Robert R., 2001. "Aging, unemployment, and welfare in a life-cycle model with costly labor market search," ISU General Staff Papers 200110010700001188, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. repec:fgv:epgrbe:v:66:n:4:a:5 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Reed, Robert R., 2002. "Age-specific employment policies," ISU General Staff Papers 200211050800001187, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    11. Tiantian Dai & Hua Fan & Shenyi Jiang, 2025. "Labor Market Implications of Pension Reform: Analyzing Delayed Retirement Policies and Fiscal Adjustments in Aging Economies," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 26(1), pages 247-280, May.
    12. Maes, Marjan, 2008. "Does the dismantlement of early retirement schemes increase unemployment in Belgium?," Working Papers 2008/57, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.

    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. Altamirano Montoya, Álvaro & Oliveri, María Laura & Bosch, Mariano & Tapia Troncoso, Waldo, 2023. "Calculating the Redistributive Impact of Pension Systems in LAC," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13185, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Jeffrey R. Brown & Julia Lynn Coronado & Don Fullerton, 2009. "Is Social Security Part of the Social Safety Net?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 23, pages 37-72, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Maria Casanova-Rivas, 2008. "Dynamic Complementarities: A Computational and Empirical Analysis of Couples' Retirement Decisions," 2008 Meeting Papers 1073, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Allais, Olivier & Leroy, Pascal & Mink, Julia, 2020. "Changes in food purchases at retirement in France," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Hanel, Barbara, 2010. "Financial incentives to postpone retirement and further effects on employment -- Evidence from a natural experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 474-486, June.
    6. Adriaan Kalwij & Klaas de Vos & Arie Kapteyn, 2014. "Health, Disability Insurance, and Labor Force Exit of Older Workers in the Netherlands," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement, pages 211-249, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Mario Schnalzenberger & Nicole Schneeweis & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer & Martina Zweimüller, 2014. "Job Quality and Employment of Older People in Europe," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 28(2), pages 141-162, June.
    8. Angel Melguizo & Manuel Balmaseda & David Taguas, 2005. "Las reformas necesarias en el sistema de pensiones contributivas en Espana," Working Papers 0505, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    9. Gordon L Clark, 2001. "Requiem for a National Ideal? Social Solidarity, the Crisis of French Social Security, and the Role of Global Financial Markets," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(11), pages 2003-2024, November.
    10. Jean-Marie Lozachmeur, 2002. "Départ à la retraite d'un point de vue de la taxation optimale," CREPP Working Papers 0212, Centre de Recherche en Economie Publique et de la Population (CREPP) (Research Center on Public and Population Economics) HEC-Management School, University of Liège.
    11. Artmann, Elisabeth & Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola & Giupponi, Giulia, 2023. "Forward-Looking Labor Supply Responses to Changes in Pension Wealth: Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 16132, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Tiantian Dai & Hua Fan & Shenyi Jiang, 2025. "Labor Market Implications of Pension Reform: Analyzing Delayed Retirement Policies and Fiscal Adjustments in Aging Economies," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 26(1), pages 247-280, May.
    13. Lalive, Rafael & Magesan, Arvind & Staubli, Stefan, 2020. "The Impact of Social Security on Pension Claiming and Retirement: Active vs. Passive Decisions," IZA Discussion Papers 13537, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Pilar García-Gómez & Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Judit Vall Castelló, 2014. "Financial Incentives, Health, and Retirement in Spain," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement, pages 455-495, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Bernardo Lanza Queiroz, 2007. "The determinants of male retirement in urban Brazil," Nova Economia, Economics Department, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), vol. 17(1), pages 11-36, January-A.
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09hi6860cc6 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. James Banks & Richard Disney & Alan Duncan & John Van Reenen, 2005. "The Internationalisation of Public Welfare Policy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(502), pages 62-81, March.
    18. J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Vincenzo Galasso, 2003. "Early Retirement," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(1), pages 12-36, January.
    19. Pfister, Mona & Lorenz, Svenja & Zwick, Thomas, 2018. "Calculation of pension entitlements in the sample of integrated labour market biographies (SIAB)," FDZ Methodenreport 201801_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    20. Hirono, Makoto & Mino, Kazuo, 2019. "Pension, Retirement, and Growth in the Presence Heterogeneous Elderly," MPRA Paper 98096, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Begley, Jaclene & Chan, Sewin, 2018. "The effect of housing wealth shocks on work and retirement decisions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 180-195.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:isu:genres:10251. 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: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.html .

    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.