Retirement and the Evolution of Pension Structure

Leora Friedberg and Anthony Webb ()

No 9999, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Defined benefit pension plans have become considerably less common since the early 1980s, while defined contribution plans have spread. Previous research showed that defined benefit plans, with sharp incentives encouraging retirement after a certain point, contributed to the striking postwar decline in American retirement ages. In this paper we find that the absence of age-related incentives in defined contribution plans leads workers to retire almost two years later on average, compared to workers with defined benefit plans. Thus, the evolution of pension structure can help explain recent increases in employment among people in their 60s, after decades of decline.

JEL-codes: J14 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-rmg
Note: AG LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Published as Friedberg, Leora and Anthony Webb. "Retirement and the Evolution of Pension Structure." Journal of Human Resources 40, 2 (Spring 2005): 281-308.

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