Retirement in a Family Context: A Structural Model for Husbands and Wives

Alan L. Gustman, Thomas L. Steinmeier

NBER Working Paper No. 4629
Issued in January 1994
NBER Program(s):   AG

A structural econometric model of retirement of married couples is specified and estimated with recent panel data from the NLS for Mature Women. A coincidence of spouses retiring together, despite the younger ages of wives, suggests explicit efforts at coordination. The estimates suggest that one reason is a coincidence of tastes for leisure. More importantly, each spouse, and perhaps husbands in particular, values retirement more once their spouse has retired. The opportunity set accounts for peaks in the retirement hazards of each spouse, but coordination in opportunities is not responsible for coordination of retirement dates.

(654 K)

The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this.  You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email.

Published: Gustman, Alan L. and Thomas L. Steinmeier. "Retirement In Dual-Career Families: A Structural Model," Journal of Labor Economics, 2000, v18(3,Jul), 503-545.

This paper is available as PDF (654 K) or via email.

Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX