The State Pension Age and Inequality in Old-Age Social Security Wealth in the Netherlands
Since the early 2010s, the state pension age (SPA) is one of the main public policy instruments in the Netherlands for inducing people to postpone retirement. The SPA has gradually increased from 65 years in 2012 to 66 years and 4 months in 2021. In the context of the Dutch old-age social security system, an increase in the SPA is hypothesized to decrease the retirement probability and to increase inequality in pension benefits entitlements. Empirical support for the two hypotheses is found with data on individuals aged 55–69 over the period 2011-2021. Inequality in old-age social security wealth has increased after 2015 for non-retirees. However, the findings do not support that this increase is because of the SPA increase.
-
Copy CitationAdriaan Kalwij and Arie Kapteyn, Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: The Effects of Pension Reforms on the Income Distribution of Retirees (University of Chicago Press, 2025), chap. 8, https://www.nber.org/books-and-chapters/social-security-programs-and-retirement-around-world-effects-pension-reforms-income-distribution/state-pension-age-and-inequality-old-age-social-security-wealth-netherlands.Download Citation
More from the NBER
In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship — as well as online conference reports, video lectures, and interviews.
