TY  - JOUR
AU  - Papke, Leslie E
TI  - Retirement Choices by State and Local Public Sector Employees: The Role of Eligibility and Financial Incentives
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 25436
PY  - 2019
Y2  - January 2019
DO  - 10.3386/w25436
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w25436
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w25436.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Leslie E. Papke
Department of Economics
110 Marshall- Adams Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Tel: 5173553773
Fax: 5176765180
E-Mail: PAPKE@MSU.EDU
M1  - published as Leslie E. Papke. "Retirement Choices by State and Local Public Sector Employees: The Role of Eligibility and Financial Incentives," in Robert L. Clark and Joseph P. Newhouse, organizers, "Incentives and Limitations of Employment Policies on Retirement Transitions" Cambridge University Press, Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, vol. 18, special issue 4 (2019)

M3  - presented at "Incentives and Limitations of Employment Policies on Retirement Transitions", August 10-11, 2018
AB  - I analyze the effects of state public pension parameters on the retirement of public employees.   Using a panel data set of public sector workers from 12 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, I model the probability of retirement as a function of pension wealth at early and normal retirement eligibility and Social Security coverage in the public sector job.  I find that becoming eligible for early retirement, or receiving an early-out offer, significantly increases the probability of retiring.  I do not find any effect of retirement wealth levels; instead the findings are consistent with the literature on default options in defined contribution plans.  These findings suggest that state legislative action to affect retirement decisions and reduce future pension costs may be most effective operating through plan eligibility rules and early-out incentives.
ER  -