Retirement ages among older Americans have only recently begun to increase after their precipitous fifty-year decline. Early retirement may result from incentives provided by retirement systems; but it may also result from the rigidities imposed by market work schedules. Using the American Time...

This study presents the first evidence on the relation of consumption to lifetime wealth, based on data from the 1973 and 1975 Retirement History Survey that have been linked to Social Security earnings records. Nearly 500 white, married, fully retired couples ages 62-69 form the basis of the...

cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Competing interests -- About IZA -- Editorial board -- INTRODUCTION -- SECTION I: Program evaluation -- SECTION II: Behavioral and personnel economics -- SECTION III: Migration -- SECTION IV: Institutions -- SECTION V: Transition and emerging economies --...

The chapter presents a discussion on the demand for labor in the long run, which is important to labor economists for a variety of reasons. As in the market for a commodity, similarly in the market for labor, the demand is an integral determinant of the price of what is exchanged. The purpose of...

This study derives and estimates a dynamic model of factor demand that includes both fixed and quadratic variable costs of adjustment. Using quarterly data on the employment of mechanics at seven airlines, it finds that both types of adjustment costs characterize the dynamic constraints facing...

We construct a general dynamic structural model of two-sided learning between a firm and its workers. We estimate an empirical version of the model using personnel data from Fokker Aircraft that cover the path of layoffs and quits through its bankruptcy. We find that the firm learns about its...