Couple's behaviour in the Brazilian labour market: The influence of social security and individual characteristics on married individuals' labour supply decisions

In recent years, a large number of studies have investigated the relationship between social security benefits and male retirement decisions in developed countries. However, women's and couples' labour supply decisions and the patterns of withdrawal from the labour force in emerging economies are much less studied. This paper uses Brazilian data from 1998 to 2008 to examine how social security financial incentives and personal characteristics affects one's own and spouses' retirement decisions. Our results suggested that couples synchronize retirement and that they respond similarly to their own characteristics. We also find that wives are more responsive to husbands' incentives than vice-versa.