%0 Report
        %A Clark, Andrew E.
%A Zhu, Rong
        %T Taking Back Control? Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Retirement on Locus of Control
        %D 2023
        %8 2023 Dec
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 16704
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp16704
        %X We use nationally representative panel data from Australia to consider the impact of retirement on individual locus of control, a socio-emotional skill that has substantial explanatory power for a broad range of life outcomes. We establish causality via cohort-specific eligibility age for the Australian Age Pension. We show that retirement leads to increased internal locus of control. This greater sense of internal control can explain around one-third and one-fifth of the positive effects of retirement on health and subjective well-being, respectively. The impact of retirement on control beliefs varies along the distribution of locus of control, with the positive influence being most pronounced for men with a relatively high sense of internal control and for women with a relatively high sense of external control. Last, we provide evidence that locus of control is much more malleable at retirement than the other socio-emotional skills of the Big-Five personality traits, risk and time preferences, and trust.
        %K retirement
%K locus of control
%K socio-emotional skills
%K public pension