We examine the role of changing mortality in explaining the rise of retirement over the course of the 20th century. We … of death. In an environment in which mortality is high, an individual who saved up for retirement would face a high risk …. As mortality falls, however, it becomes optimal to plan, and save for, retirement. We simulate our model using actual …

allocate optimally their total lifetime between education, working and retirement. They also decide at each moment how much to … literature. In this setup increases in longevity raises the investment in education - time in school - and retirement. The model … is calibrated to the U.S. and is able to reproduce observed schooling levels and the increase in retirement, as the …