Since 1970 the United States government has spent over half a billion dollars on social experiments intended to assess the effect of potential tax policies, health insurance plans, housing subsidies, and other programs. Was it worth it? Was anything learned from these experiments that could not...

The fraction of the population over age sixty-five in many developed countries is projected to rise, in some cases sharply, in coming decades. This has drawn growing interest to research on the health and economic circumstances of individuals as they age. Many individuals are retiring from paid...

In recent years, the retirement age for public pensions has increased across many countries, and additional increases are in progress or under discussion in many more. The seventh stage of an ongoing research project studying the relationship between social security programs and labor force...

Even as life expectancy in many countries has continued to increase, social security and similar government programs can provide strong incentives for workers to leave the labor force when they reach the age of eligibility for benefits. Disability insurance programs can also play a significant...

What accounts for the striking decline in labor force participation at increasingly younger ages? Social Security and Retirement around the World examines one explanation: social security programs actually provide incentives for early retirement. This volume houses a set of remarkable papers...

In nearly every industrialized country, large aging populations and increased life expectancy have placed enormous pressure on social security programs-and, until recently, the pressure has been compounded by a trend toward retirement at an earlier age. With a larger fraction of the population...

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction / David A. Wise and Richard Woodbury -- 1. Trends in Pension Cash-Out at Job Change and the Effects on Long-Term Outcomes / Philip Armour, Michael D. Hurd, and Susann Rohwedder -- Comment: James M. Poterba -- 2. Liquidity in Retirement Savings...

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction - Courtney Coile, Kevin Milligan, and David A. Wise -- 1. Disability Insurance Incentives and the Retirement Decision: Evidence from the United States - Courtney Coile -- 2. Effect of Pensions and Disability Benefits on Retirement in the...

Japanese and American economists assess the present economic status of the elderly in the United States and Japan, and consider the impact of an aging population on the economies of the two countries.With essays on labor force participation and retirement, housing equity and the economic status...

This volume, the fourth to result from a remarkably productive collaboration between the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Japan Center for Economic Research, presents a selection of thirteen high-caliber papers addressing issues in the employment practices, labor markets, and health,...