This article explores how German pension and retirement policy could be made more sustainable, focusing on selected current options for action rather than attempting to provide a comprehensive overview. Before turning to specific problems and perspectives, the article first discusses key...

Population aging will continue in the future, in both developed and developing countries. This may lead to lower migration, since the desire to migrate declines later in the life cycle. In addition, indirect labor demand effects may also reduce migration. However, migration of the elderly,...

Flexible work time and retirement options are a potential solution for the challenges of unemployment, aging populations, and unsustainable pensions systems around the world. Voluntary part-time workers in Europe and the US are happier, experience less stress and anger, and are more satisfied...

With the aging of populations, particularly in more developed countries, retirees are becoming a politically influential group. Government budgets have been feeling the strain on social insurance, health care, and other programs that benefit the elderly. Yet spending on these programs has often...

The labor market position of older workers is cause for concern in many industrialized countries. Rapid population aging is challenging pension systems. The recent economic crisis has forced many older adults out of the workforce, into either pre-retirement or non-employment. Encouraging people...

The demand for institutional long-term care is likely to remain high in OECD countries, because of longer life expectancy and falling cohabitation rates of the elderly with family members. As shortages of qualified nurses put a cap on the supply of beds at nursing homes, excess demand builds....

Social security programs generally seek to provide insurance and to reduce poverty and inequality. Providing insurance requires little redistribution. But reducing inequality and alleviating poverty do require redistribution. To reduce inequality, programs must redistribute income, but...

The Danish labor market follows the trend in other countries of increasing labor force participation in the 60+ group. In Denmark, this increase has - until now - been most pronounced among 60-64-year-olds and among women. Increasing labor force participation is related to both a decline in the...

Using new linked employer-employee data from Germany, this article provides the first evidence on the effect of employer provided occupational pensions on work engagement. Famous efficiency wage theories predict that pensions enhance effort if a risk of forfeiture of pension claims is present....

This paper investigates the mechanisms behind the health effects of retirement. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design to exploit financial incentives in the German pension system for identification, I find that retirement improves subjective health status and mental health, while also reducing...