Essays on partial retirement

The five essays in this dissertation address a range of topics in the micro-economic literature on partial retirement. The focus is on the labor market behavior of older age groups. The essays examine the economic and non-economic determinants of partial retirement behavior, the effect of partial retirement on retirement income and health, and the factors that could limit workers to participate in partial retirement. The analysis is mainly empirical and makes use of survey data on actual retirement opportunities and retirement decisions, but also on stated preferences concerning abrupt and partial retirement scenarios. The data are collected in the United States and the Netherlands through national surveys and through a web-based questionnaire specifically designed for the stated preference analysis. The empirical analysis relies on micro-econometric methods of discrete choice to estimate the empirical relationships between the variables of interest. In the analysis throughout the dissertation, while the main interest lies in partial retirement, the alternative abrupt full retirement scenario is also examined. Other alternative exit routes such as unemployment or disability are not analyzed in this dissertation

Deeltijdpensioen Geen Wondermiddel voor Langer Doorwerken

Een enquête op basis van vignetten laat zien dat de voorkeur voor deeltijdpensioen groot is. De animo voor deeltijdpensioen is nagenoeg gelijk voor mensen met verschillende opleidingsniveaus, voor mannen en vrouwen en hangt ook niet af van het huishoudinkomen. Veel mensen werken langer door wanneer zij gebruik kunnen maken van deeltijdpensioen. Dit positieve participatie-effect wordt echter in de regel tenietgedaan doordat anderen juist eerder starten met het afbouwen van hun gewerkte uren. Per saldo leidt de mogelijkheid van deeltijdpensioen dan niet tot stijging van het aantal gewerkte uren. De mogelijkheid van deeltijdpensioen leidt wel tot langer doorwerken indien het financieel aantrekkelijk wordt gemaakt. Hier zijn wel kosten aan verbonden

The added worker effect:Evidence from adisability insurance reform

The Netherlands reformed its disability insurance (DI) scheme in 2006. Reintegration incentives for employers became stronger, access to DI benefits became more difficult, and benefits became less generous. Using administrative data on all individuals who fell sick shortly before and after the reform, we study the impact of the reform on labor participation of individuals who fell sick and their spouses. Difference-in-differences estimates show, among other things, that the reform led to an increase of labor participation of the individuals who fell sick only if these individuals had a permanent job, whereas spouses responded to the DI reform in other cases, where the individuals reporting sick had a temporary job or were unemployed. More generally, the spouses respond when the sick individual’s labor market position is weak and the individual him- or herself has trouble finding or retaining employment. The effects are persistent during the 10 years after the reform. The effect on the spouse can be seen as an “added worker effect,” where additional earnings of the spouse compensate for the sick individual’s income loss so that both partners share the burden of a more stringent DI scheme. Comparing individuals reporting sick with and without partner provides further support for the notion that the responses of couples to the reform are joint decisions of the two partners

The deep circulation of the Faroe-Shetland channel: opposing flows and topographic eddies

New insights into the deep circulation of the Faroe-Shetland channel are gained from a high- resolution regional ocean model. The simulation shows a more complex structure of the deep flow field than previously thought: a flow reversal of the deep and intermediate waters to the northeast on the Faro- ese flank of the channel and persistent topographic eddies that force the deep currents into a gyre-like structure. This flow reversal opposes the previously accepted understanding of a purely southwestward deep flow but is in agreement with velocity measurements. The southwestward transport of the overflow waters is found to be facilitated almost exclusively by a strong and narrow current on the Shetland side of the channel. Float release experiments show that up to 38% of the overflow water takes longer than a purely southwestward flow regime suggests and up to 13% takes twice as long. From the release of tracers, a substantial amount of lateral mixing is evident within the channel, predominantly facilitated by the topo- graphic eddies