Full Citation

Title: Public Pensions and Retirement: Evidence from the Railroad Retirement Act

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2022

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: This paper develops early estimates of how public pensions affect retirement timing by examining the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937, which replaced private railroad pensions with a national program similar to Social Security. Leveraging various samples of linked Decennial Census records between 1910-1940, the analysis compares male labor force nonparticipation by previous industry, year, and age. Higher benefits led to earlier retirement, largely driven by exit at age 65. Exploiting newly progressive benefits, the elasticity of nonparticipation at ages 65-69 is 0.55, which is large relative to findings in modern settings but consistent with contemporary elderly transfer programs.

Url: https://www.matthewpesner.com/uploads/1/2/2/8/122865144/pesner_matthew_rr_pensions_jmp.pdf

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Pesner, Matthew

Publisher: University of Michigan

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data

Topics: Aging and Retirement, Labor Force and Occupational Structure

Countries: