This paper studies the evolution of early retirement due to disease and injury in the German labor force between 1988 and 2004. Using data from the German Federation of Public Pension Providers, the IMS Health Drug Launches database and the WHO Mortality Database, we show that new drug launches...

This paper examines the role of the health gradient the positive correlation between household income and health in individual retirement behavior, using data from the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP). We first estimate agegroup-specific health gradients and find their slope increases with...

This paper is part of the project European Integration, Financial Systems and Corporate Performance (EIFC) carried out within the European Commission s specific programme Improving the Human Research Potential and the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base . Financial support from the European Union, DG...