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What Triggers Early Retirement ? Results from Swiss Pension Funds

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  • Monika BÜTLER
  • 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 affuent 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Monika BÜTLER & Olivia HUGUENIN & Federica TEPPA, 2004. "What Triggers Early Retirement ? Results from Swiss Pension Funds," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 04.04, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
  • Handle: RePEc:lau:crdeep:04.04
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    Cited by:

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    3. Monika Bütler & Stefan Staubli & Maria Grazia Zito, 2008. "The Role of the Annuity’s Value on the Decision (Not) to Annuitize: Evidence from a Large Policy Change," CESifo Working Paper Series 2376, CESifo.
    4. Piera Bello & Vincenzo Galasso, 2020. "Old before their time: the role of employers in retirement decisions," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(5), pages 1198-1223, October.
    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. Nicolas Sirven & Thomas Barnay, 2017. "Expectations, loss aversion and retirement decisions in the context of the 2009 crisis in Europe," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(1), pages 25-44, April.
    8. Barbara Hanel & Regina Riphahn, 2006. "Financial Incentives and the Timing of Retirement: Evidence from Switzerland," Working Papers 009, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    9. Alejandra Cox Edwards & Estelle James, 2010. "Impact of Social Security Reform on Labor Force Participation Rates of Pensioners and Nonpensioners: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 130-172.
    10. 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.
    11. Carmen Petrovici & J rg Neugschwender, 2014. "Who can (still) afford to retire early? Cross-country comparison of incomes of senior workers and young retirees using LIS data for 2007 & 2010," LIS Working papers 608, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    12. 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.
    13. Ignacio Madero-Cabib & Laure Kaeser, 2016. "How voluntary is the active ageing life? A life-course study on the determinants of extending careers," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 25-37, March.
    14. Christian Keuschnigg & Mirela Keuschnigg & Christian Jaag, 2011. "Aging and the Financing of Social Security in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 147(II), pages 181-231, June.
    15. Francisco Palací & Irene Jiménez & Gabriela Topa, 2018. "Too soon to worry? Longitudinal examination of financial planning for retirement among Spanish aged workers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, December.
    16. Madero-Cabib, Ignacio & Fasang, Anette Eva, 2016. "Gendered work-family life courses and financial well-being in retirement," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27, pages 43-60.
    17. Estelle James & Alejandra Cox Edwards, 2005. "Do Individual Accounts Postpone Retirement: Evidence from Chile," Working Papers wp098, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    18. Monika Riedel & Helmut Hofer & Birgit Wögerbauer, 2015. "Determinants for the transition from work into retirement in Europe," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    19. Kuhn, Ursina & Grabka, Markus M. & Suter, Christian, 2021. "Early retirement as a privilege for the rich? A comparative analysis of Germany and Switzerland," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47, pages 100392-1003.
    20. Thomas Horvath & Thomas Url, 2013. "Bridging-Renten als Überbrückung für Einkommensausfälle vor dem Pensionsantritt," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46684, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    occupational pension; retirement decision; duration models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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