Document Type
Working Paper
Date of this Version
8-10-2020
Abstract
Understanding the link between retirement and health is crucial for both improving people's wellbeing and for designing optimal public policy around retirement. Yet, to date, the economics literature has been inconclusive about whether retirement causes improvements or deterioration in health. The lack of consensus is likely driven by differences in study design, population, and the age of workers and set of health outcomes studied. In this paper, I explain and distill the literature, highlight patterns in the highest-quality studies, and discuss the implications of the findings for longevity risk management and worker and retiree health going forward.
Keywords
Retirement, health, social security, working longer
Working Paper Number
WP2020-20
Copyright/Permission Statement
All findings, interpretations, and conclusions of this paper represent the views of the author and not those of the Wharton School or the Pension Research Council. © 2020 Pension Research Council of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
Date Posted: 10 August 2020
Comments
The published version of this working paper may be found in the 2022 publication: New Models for Managing Longevity Risk: Public-Private Partnerships.