December 2006

IZA DP No. 2492: Financial Incentives and the Timing of Retirement: Evidence from Switzerland

published as 'The Timing of Retirement - New Evidence from Swiss Female Workers' in: Labour Economics, 2012, 19(5), 718-728

We use reforms in the Swiss public retirement system to identify the responsiveness of retirement timing to financial incentives. A permanent reduction of retirement benefits by 3.4 percent induces more than 70 percent of females to postpone their retirement. The responsiveness of male workers, who undergo a different treatment, is lower.