Fatal Attraction? Extended Unemployment Benefits, Labor Force Exits, and Mortality

Andreas Kuhn (), Stefan Staubli, Jean-Philippe Wuellrich () and Josef Zweimüller ()
Additional contact information
Andreas Kuhn: Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training
Jean-Philippe Wuellrich: University of Zurich

No 11851, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We estimate the causal effect of permanent and premature exits from the labor force on mortality. To overcome the problem of negative health selection into early retirement, we exploit a policy change in unemployment insurance rules in Austria that allowed workers in eligible regions to exit the labor force 3 years earlier compared to workers in non-eligible regions. Using administrative data with precise information on mortality and retirement, we find that the policy change induced eligible workers to exit the labor force significantly earlier. Instrumental variable estimation results show that for men retiring one year earlier causes a 6.8% increase in the risk of premature death and 0.2 years reduction in the age at death, but has no significant effect for women.

Keywords: early retirement; mortality; health behavior; instrumental variable (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I12 J14 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2018-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-dem and nep-eur
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Published - published in: Journal of Public Economics, 2020, 191, 104087

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Related works:
Journal Article: Fatal attraction? Extended unemployment benefits, labor force exits, and mortality (2020)
Chapter: Fatal Attraction? Extended Unemployment Benefits, Labor Force Exits, and Mortality (2018)
Working Paper: Fatal Attraction? Extended Unemployment Benefits, Labor Force Exits, and Mortality (2018)
Working Paper: Fatal Attraction? Extended Unemployment Benefits, Labor Force Exits, and Mortality (2018)
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