Retirement Incentives in Belgium: Estimations and Simulations Using SHARE Data

The paper studies retirement behavior of wage-earners in Belgium—for the first time using a rich survey dataset to analyze retirement incentives as faced by individuals. Specifically, we use SHARE data to estimate a model à la Stock and Wise (Econom Econ Soc 58(5):1151–1180, <CitationRef CitationID="CR11">1990</CitationRef>). Exploring the data on individual life-histories from SHARELIFE, we construct a measure of financial incentive to retire. Our analysis explicitly takes into account the different take-up rates of the various early retirement exit paths across time and ages. The results show that financial incentives play a strong role. Health and education also matter, as do regional differences. Against the general background of the 2020 strategy, we perform a set of policy simulations and illustrate the scope but also the limits associated with selective parametric reforms. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013