Joint Retirement in Europe

Abstract

In this project we study joint retirement of couples in Europe. We characterize various empirical regularities and use a model for simultaneous duration variables developed in Honore and de Paula (2014). Whereas conventionally used duration models cannot account for joint retirement, our model admits joint retirement with positive probability, allows for simultaneity and nests the traditional proportional hazards model. In contrast to other statistical models for simultaneous durations, it is based on Nash bargaining and it is therefore interpretable in terms of economic behavior. We focus on the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA).

JEL Classification: J26, C41, C3