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How Social Security and Medicare Affect Retirement Behavior in a World of Incomplete Markets

 
Paper:ewp-pe/9406005
From: John Rust <   > 
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:39:32 CDT
Date (revised): Wed, 6 Jul 94 23:33:28 CDT
Date (revised): Thu, 7 Jul 94 13:19:03 CDT
Date (revised): Wed, 16 Aug 95 01:31:45 CDT
Date (revised): Sun, 20 Oct 1996 15:56:55 GMT
Date (revised): Sun, 20 Oct 1996 16:03:29 GMT

Abstract:
Abstract: This paper provides an empirical analysis of how the U.S. Social Security and Medicare insurance system affect the labor supply of older males in the presence of incomplete markets for loans, annuities, and health insurance. Using data from the Retirement History Survey, we estimate a detailed dynamic programming (DP) model of the joint labor supply and Social Security acceptance decision, focusing on a sample of males in the low to middle income brackets whose only pension is Social Security. Comparisons of actual vs. predicted behavior show that the DP model is able to account for wide variety of phenomena observed in the data, including the pronounced peaks in the distribution of retirement ages at 62 and 65 (the ages of early and normal eligibility for Social Security benefits, respectively). The peak at 62 is a result of borrowing constraints that prevent individuals with relatively little tangible net worth from retiring prior to the age of first eligibility for early retirement benefits. The peak at age 65 is a result of incomplete markets for annuities and health insurance and the fact that Social Security benefit formula is actuarially unfair for retirements after age 65.

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EconWPA began as a conversation between Bob Parks and Larry Blume on January 28, 1993. I located Paul Ginsparg's archive (then xxx.lanl.gov) and he graciously installed his software on a Sun Sparc system which was supporting the department of economics email and computation. EconWPA began accepting papers July 1, 1993 and had ftp, email, gopher and web interfaces. The web interface for submissions was engineered into existence in July 1995. A complete and catastrophic machine failure in 1999 caused the loss of EconWPA's email new paper announcment service at which time there were over 15,000 subscriptions with over 8,000 unique email addresses.

In 2005, Arts and Sciences commandeered the computing services that I had provided to the Department of Economics since 1987. Some might say that the department was sold out, others would (erroneously) claim that centralization is efficient, and still others would claim that I have few marketing skills.

I was told that I could keep operating EconWPA (as well as many other services including rfe.wustl.edu, barnett.wustl.edu, and three RePEc servers) but I would receive no support (hardware, software, or anthing else) and (as had been the case) no compensation. At that point, given the apparent low valuation of my activities by the department, and university, it made no sense for me to continue operating EconWPA or other services.

Thanks to all who have supported EconWPA in the past.

A Chinese curse states May you live in intersting times. I have. Bob Parks - Jan 2006