Microeconomic Determinants of Early Retirement: A Cross-Sectional View of White Married Men

Abstract

A new and very rich body of data, the Social Security Administration's Retirement History Study, is used to study the microeconomic determinants of early retirement among white married men aged 58-63. We analyze three categories of factors: personal and financial characteristics, local labor market conditions, and certain attributes of the individual's job. We find that health status and current eligibility for Social Security and for other pensions are the most important determinants and that there is a definite interaction between the two. The effects of eligibility (and of most of the other explanatory variables) fall primarily on those with health limitations.