IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ven/wpaper/202530.html

How raising the full retirement age affects women’s early retirement choices: insights from the interaction of two policies

Author

Listed:
  • Elena Bassoli

    (ETH Zurich; Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

  • Ylenia Brilli

    (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice; CHILD-Collegio Carlo Alberto)

Abstract

This paper analyzes how a reform increasing statutory retirement age from 60 to 64 affected women's incentives for early retirement. In Italy, women can anticipate retirement at 57 (with 35 contribution years), but subject to an annuity penalization. Using Italian administrative data, we compare women eligible for the early retirement scheme before and after the reform, finding a small effect on women's retirement age, but a substantial negative effect on annuity. Effects are stronger for women with low labor market attachment or working full-time, suggesting that reconciliation of paid and unpaid works is an important driver of early retirement choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena Bassoli & Ylenia Brilli, 2025. "How raising the full retirement age affects women’s early retirement choices: insights from the interaction of two policies," Working Papers 2025: 30, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    • Handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2025:30
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.unive.it/web/fileadmin/user_upload/dipartimenti/DEC/doc/Pubblicazioni_scientifiche/working_papers/2025/WP_DSE_bassoli_brilli_30_25.pdf
    File Function: First version, anno
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric French, 2005. "The Effects of Health, Wealth, and Wages on Labour Supply and Retirement Behaviour," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(2), pages 395-427.
    2. Liebman, Jeffrey B. & Luttmer, Erzo F.P. & Seif, David G., 2009. "Labor supply responses to marginal Social Security benefits: Evidence from discontinuities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1208-1223, December.
    3. Tito Boeri & Pietro Garibaldi & Espen R. Moen, 2022. "In medio stat victus: Labor Demand Effects of an Increase in the Retirement Age," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 519-556, April.
    4. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2016. "The Evolution of Gender Gaps in Industrialized Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 405-434, October.
    5. Elsa Fornero & Noemi Oggero & Riccardo Puglisi, 2019. "Information and Financial Literacy for Socially Sustainable NDC Pension Schemes," World Bank Publications - Reports 31703, The World Bank Group.
    6. Petrongolo, Barbara & Ronchi, Maddalena, 2020. "Gender gaps and the structure of local labor markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2016. "The Evolution of Gender Gaps in Industrialized Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 405-434, October.
    8. Axel Börsch-Supan & Courtney Coile, 2021. "Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Reforms and Retirement Incentives," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bors-1, December.
    9. Felfe, Christina, 2012. "The motherhood wage gap: What about job amenities?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 59-67.
    10. Tito Boeri & Agar Brugiavini, 2008. "Pension Reforms and Women Retirement Plans," Working Papers 2008_35, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    11. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2008. "Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 413-417, May.
    12. Alessie, Rob & Angelini, Viola & van Santen, Peter, 2013. "Pension wealth and household savings in Europe: Evidence from SHARELIFE," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 308-328.
    13. Elena Stancanelli & Arthur Van Soest, 2012. "Retirement and Home Production: A Regression Discontinuity Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(3), pages 600-605, May.
    14. Erich Battistin & Agar Brugiavini & Enrico Rettore & Guglielmo Weber, 2009. "The Retirement Consumption Puzzle: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 2209-2226, December.
    15. Day Manoli & Andrea Weber, 2016. "Nonparametric Evidence on the Effects of Financial Incentives on Retirement Decisions," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 160-182, November.
    16. Kapteyn, Arie & Alessie, Rob & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2005. "Explaining the wealth holdings of different cohorts: Productivity growth and Social Security," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1361-1391, July.
    17. Pedro Carneiro & Katrine V. Løken & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2015. "A Flying Start? Maternity Leave Benefits and Long-Run Outcomes of Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(2), pages 365-412.
    18. Staubli, Stefan & Zweimüller, Josef, 2013. "Does raising the early retirement age increase employment of older workers?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 17-32.
    19. Manoli, Dayanand & Weber, Andrea, 2016. "The Effects of the Early Retirement Age on Retirement Decisions," IZA Discussion Papers 10154, IZA Network @ LISER.
    20. Stancanelli, Elena, 2017. "Couples’ retirement under individual pension design: A regression discontinuity study for France," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 14-26.
    21. Ciani, Emanuele, 2016. "Retirement, pension eligibility and home production," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 106-120.
    22. Johannes Geyer & Clara Welteke, 2021. "Closing Routes to Retirement for Women: How Do They Respond?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(1), pages 311-341.
    23. Veronica Grembi & Tommaso Nannicini & Ugo Troiano, 2016. "Do Fiscal Rules Matter?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 1-30, July.
    24. Luc Behaghel & David M. Blau, 2012. "Framing Social Security Reform: Behavioral Responses to Changes in the Full Retirement Age," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 41-67, November.
    25. Gruber, Jonathan & Wise, David, 1998. "Social Security and Retirement: An International Comparison," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 158-163, May.
    26. Agar Brugiavini, 1999. "Social Security and Retirement in Italy," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security and Retirement around the World, pages 181-237, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Orazio P. Attanasio & Agar Brugiavini, 2003. "Social Security and Households' Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 1075-1119.
    28. Krueger, Alan B & Pischke, Jorn-Steffen, 1992. "The Effect of Social Security on Labor Supply: A Cohort Analysis of the Notch Generation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 412-437, October.
    29. Andrew Gelman & Guido Imbens, 2019. "Why High-Order Polynomials Should Not Be Used in Regression Discontinuity Designs," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 447-456, July.
    30. French, E. & Lindner, A. & O'Dea, C. & Zawisza T., 2022. "Labor Supply and the Pension Contribution-Benefit Link," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2248, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    31. Giorgio Brunello & Maria Paola & Lorenzo Rocco, 2025. "Pension reforms, longer working horizons, and absence from work," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-26, March.
    32. Song, Jae G. & Manchester, Joyce, 2007. "New evidence on earnings and benefit claims following changes in the retirement earnings test in 2000," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 669-700, April.
    33. Laura Hospido & Gema Zamarro, 2014. "Retirement patterns of couples in Europe," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, December.
    34. Belloni, Michele & Brugiavini, Agar & Buia, Raluca E. & Carrino, Ludovico & Cavapozzi, Danilo & Orso, Cristina E. & Pasini, Giacomo, 2020. "What do we learn about redistribution effects of pension systems from internationally comparable measures of Social Security wealth?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 548-566, October.
    35. William G. Gale, 1998. "The Effects of Pensions on Household Wealth: A Reevaluation of Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 706-723, August.
    36. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00772844 is not listed on IDEAS
    37. Elena Stancanelli, 2017. "Couples’ Retirement under Individual Pension Design: a Regression Discontinuity Study for France," Post-Print hal-01630922, HAL.
    38. Mastrobuoni, Giovanni, 2009. "Labor supply effects of the recent social security benefit cuts: Empirical estimates using cohort discontinuities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1224-1233, December.
    39. Michele Belloni & Rob Alessie, 2013. "Retirement Choices in Italy: What an Option Value Model Tells Us," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(4), pages 499-527, August.
    40. Engels, Barbara & Geyer, Johannes & Haan, Peter, 2017. "Pension incentives and early retirement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 216-231.
    41. Aviad Tur-Sinai & Andrea Teti & Alexander Rommel & Valentina Hlebec & Giovanni Lamura, 2020. "How Many Older Informal Caregivers Are There in Europe? Comparison of Estimates of Their Prevalence from Three European Surveys," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-17, December.
    42. Francesca Carta & Marta De Philippis, 2024. "The Forward-Looking Effect of Increasing the Full Retirement Age," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 165-192.
    43. Simon Rabaté & Egbert Jongen & Tilbe Atav, 2024. "Increasing the Retirement Age: Policy Effects and Underlying Mechanisms," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 259-291, February.
    44. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Coile, Courtney C. (ed.), 2021. "Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226674100, August.
    45. Eric French & Attila S. Lindner & Cormac O'Dea & Tom A. Zawisza, 2022. "Labor Supply and the Pension-Contribution Link," NBER Working Papers 30184, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    46. Elena Stancanelli, 2017. "Couples’ Retirement under Individual Pension Design: a Regression Discontinuity Study for France," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-01630922, HAL.
    47. Arthur Seibold, 2021. "Reference Points for Retirement Behavior: Evidence from German Pension Discontinuities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(4), pages 1126-1165, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Francesca Carta & Marta De Philippis, 2021. "Working horizon and labour supply: the effect of raising the full retirement age on middle-aged individuals," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1314, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Etgeton, Stefan & Fischer, Björn & Ye, Han, 2023. "The effect of increasing retirement age on households’ savings and consumption expenditure," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 221, pages 1-37.
    3. García-Miralles, Esteban & Leganza, Jonathan M., 2024. "Joint retirement of couples: Evidence from discontinuities in Denmark," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    4. Blundell, R. & French, E. & Tetlow, G., 2016. "Retirement Incentives and Labor Supply," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 457-566, Elsevier.
    5. Sona Badalyan, 2025. "Peer Effects in Old-Age Employment Among Women," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp800, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    6. Sturm, Patrick, 2025. "Workplace peer effects in retirement," W.E.P. - Würzburg Economic Papers 112, University of Würzburg, Department of Economics.
    7. Todd Morris, 2022. "The unequal burden of retirement reform: Evidence from Australia," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 592-619, April.
    8. Esteban García-Miralles & Jonathan M. Leganza, 2024. "Public Pensions and Private Savings," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 366-405, May.
    9. Giesecke, Matthias & Jäger, Philipp, 2021. "Pension incentives and labor supply: Evidence from the introduction of universal old-age assistance in the UK," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    10. Gruber, Jonathan & Kanninen, Ohto & Ravaska, Terhi, 2022. "Relabeling, retirement and regret," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    11. Ye, Han, 2018. "The Effect of Pension Subsidies on Retirement Timing of Older Women: Evidence from a Regression Kink Design," IZA Discussion Papers 11831, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Sona Badalyan, 2025. "Crowded Career Ladders? Intra-Firm Spillovers of Raised Retirement Age," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp810, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    13. 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.
    14. Khanna, Gaurav & Lay, Margaret J. & Lee, Stephanie & Thompson, Benjamin, 2025. "Female labor supply and rural pension eligibility in Brazil," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    15. Sturm, Patrick, 2025. "Increasing the retirement age: How firms adjust workforce and wages," W.E.P. - Würzburg Economic Papers 113, University of Würzburg, Department of Economics.
    16. Sona Badalyan, 2025. "Retirement Age Reforms and Worker Substitutability: Implications for Employment of Older Workers," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp794, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    17. Dolls, Mathias & Krolage, Carla, 2023. "‘Earned, not given’? The effect of lowering the full retirement age on retirement decisions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    18. Asik, Gunes A., 2024. "Early retirement incentives and transition into informality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. 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, IZA Network @ LISER.
    20. Moghadam, Hamed Markazi & Puhani, Patrick A. & Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2024. "Pension reforms and couples’ labour supply decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

    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:ven:wpaper:2025:30. 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: Sassano Sonia (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dsvenit.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.