We evaluate the actual effectiveness of disincentives that have been introduced for early retirement in Germany. Therefore, we set up a detailed model of the German social security and tax system with special attention to the PAYG-pension system. Building on the fact that the institutional...

There is much variation in the physical requirements across occupations, giving rise to great differences in later-life productivity, disability risk, and the value of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). In this paper, I look at how such differences across occupations affect initial...

A structural dynamic programming model is applied for modeling labour market transitions among older age workers in Norway in 1992-2003. Special attention is given to early retirement pensiion and disability pension as two major exit routes from the labour force. Health status is represented by...

This paper explores how much firm-paid employee benefits and firms' financial conditions have contributed to delayed employment recoveries relative to output since 1990, using a DSGE model. Empirically, I document the underexplored pro-cyclicality of per worker benefit costs. Post-1990 period...

We study the labor supply dynamics of elderly couples by means of a structural collective model. The model allows for general externalities with respect to spouses? leisure. Preferences and the intrahousehold bargaining process are identified by using panel data with couples and individuals who...

In this paper I simulate the entrance to the labor market in the presence of cultural barriers that constraint labor market participation of low-income workers. In this case, an optimal EITC depends on social planner's relative preferences for persistently unemployed and working poor. I check...

This study analyzes the effect of fathers' parental leave-taking on the time fathers spend with their children and on mothers' and fathers' labor supply. Fathers' leave-taking is highly selective and the identification of causal effects relies on within-father differences in leave-taking for...

The chapter examines how the various dimensions of economic inequality between men and women are analyzed today. Beyond the gender wage gap—a central issue—and of course the still far from equal sharing of housework, the chapter also reviews research on gender inequality in access to...

This paper assesses whether a causal relationship exists between recent increases in female labor force participation and the increased prevalence of obesity amongst women. The expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the 1980s and 1990s have been established by prior literature as...