5
these studies suggests a positive effect of early retirement on health, at least when self-
reported measures on health are used to assess health. For instance, the longitudinal
studies by Westerlund et al. (2009) and Vahtera et al. (2009) find positive effects based
on self-reported health measures on mental and physical fatigue, depressive symptoms,
and a decrease in sleep disturbances. However, studies using self-reported health
measures in a longitudinal design may also have problems, since answers to questions
about health may vindicate the active choice of retiring. Using the same data as in
Westerlund et al. (2009) and Vahtera et al. (2009),
6
Westerlund et al. (2010) could not,
for instance, find a positive effect of retirement on respiratory diseases, diabetes,
coronary heart disease, or stroke.
An exception to the general result is Kuhn et al.‟s study (2010), which finds negative
effects on health (measured as mortality before age 67) of early retirement for men. In
the estimation, the researchers exploit changes in unemployment rules that allowed
workers to retire early in some regions in Austria. Coe and Lindeboom (2008) find a
positive effect on self-reported health. Their study concerns an offer of early retirement
from the employer, as an instrument for actual retirement. Hernaes et al. (2013) use a
series of retirement policy changes in Norway, which reduced the retirement age for one
group of workers but not for others. They find no effect on mortality of retirement age.
Coe and Zamarro (2011) use European cross-national data and exploit country variation
in legislated (normal) pension age and legislated early retirement age as instruments for
retiring. They find positive effects on health from retirement. Charles (2002) and
Neuman (2007) use the incentives imbedded in the US Social Security regulations at
certain ages, as an exogenous shift in retirement probability. The identifying assumption
is hence that there are no sudden changes in health at those ages for reasons other than
retirement. Charles (2002) finds a positive effect on mental well-being. Neuman (2007)
finds a positive effect on subjective health but no effect on objective measures. Bound
and Waidmann (2008) employ a similar method to institutional features in the UK
pension system, thus finding an indication of a positive health effect of retirement for
men. Bloemen et al. (2013) focus on a group of civil servants who became eligible for
retirement earlier than expected during a short time window. They find that early
retirement decreased mortality for men.
6
That is, the French Gazel cohort. This is a yearly panel that includes, among others, self-reported measures on
health 7 years before to 7 years after retirement at the age of 55-60.
