This article proposes consistent nonparametric methods for testing the null hypothesis of Lorenz dominance. The methods are based on a class of statistical functionals defined over the difference between the Lorenz curves for two samples of welfare-related variables. We present two specific test...

The causal effect of retirement on health is studied using the Australian 1993 Age Pension reform to isolate exogenous variation in retirement status. Using instrumental variable methods we find that retirement has a positive impact on subjective and objective measures of health.

Governments around the world are reforming their social security systems in light of the challenges posed by population aging. We study the 1993 Australian Age Pension reform, which progressively increased the eligibility age for women from 60 to 65 years. We find economically significant...

Does retirement represent a state of relative prosperity or unanticipated hardship? To assess whether individuals are successful in smoothing their well-being across the transition to retirement we analyse measures of subjective well-being (SWB) in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in...

International research has shown that household expenditure on nondurables significantly decreases at retirement - a finding that is inconsistent with the standard life-cycle model of consumption if retirement is anticipated. We analyze Australian panel data and find that the decline in grocery...

The dynamics of welfare participation are analyzed using a unique longitudinal data set derived from provincial administrative records over the period 1980-92. The principal findings are that the majority of welfare spells are experienced by single men and women without children and that, while...