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Flexible Pensions and Labor Force Withdrawal

Working paper by Erik Hernaes, Zhiyang Jia, John Piggott and Trond Christian Vigtel.

This paper studies the effect on the labor supply decisions of senior workers of reducing the eligibility age of retirement combined with actuarial neutrality, based on one particular group of private sector workers. In the 2011 Norwegian pension reform they had a fixed pension access age of 67 replaced by a flexible access age from 62 with constant present value of benefits.

14. mai 2019

In a non-linear difference-in-difference approach, exploiting the absence of earnings tests, we find no effect on labor force participation. Aggregate earnings fell, mostly driven by high earners reducing their earnings. The increased liquidity seems to facilitate phased retirement.