TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lumsdaine,Robin L.
AU  - Stock,James H.
AU  - Wise,David A.
TI  - Why are Retirement Rates So High at Age 65?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5190
PY  - 1995
Y2  - July 1995
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5190
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5190.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robin L. Lumsdaine
Kogod School of Business
American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016
Tel: 202/885-1964
E-Mail: robin.lumsdaine@american.edu

James H. Stock
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center M27
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/496-0502
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: James_Stock@harvard.edu

David A. Wise
Harvard Kennedy School
79 John F. Kennedy
Cambridge, MA   02138
E-Mail: dwise@nber.org
M1  - published as Robin L. Lumsdaine, James H. Stock, David A. Wise. "Why Are Retirement Rates So High at Age 65?," in David A. Wise, editor, "Advances in the Economics of Aging" University of Chicago Press (1996)

AB  - In most data sets of labor force participation of the elderly, an empirical regularity that emerges is that retirement rates are particularly high at age 65.  While there are numerous economic reasons why individuals may choose to retire at 65, empirical models that have attempted to explain the age-65 spike have met with limited success. Interpreted another way, while many models would predict a jump in the hazard rate at age 65, the magnitude of the spike indicates excessive response given the economic considerations that retirees typically face. This paper considers the puzzle of why retirement rates are so high at age 65 and explores a variety of explanations.
ER  -