Preferences for Early Retirement Among Older Government Employees in Egypt

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting the early retirement preferences of Egyptian government sector employees. In line with the existing literature, we consider the possibility that the early retirement and post-retirement employment decisions are made jointly. We do this by estimating a recursive bivariate probit model in which the endogenous "post-retirement work" variable is among the explanatory variables in the "early retirement" equation. Estimation results based on a 2005 survey reveal that the two decisions are in fact correlated. As expected, people who plan to work after retirement are more likely to choose early retirement