Publisher:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Kiel und Hamburg
Abstract:
This paper uses an unanticipated, exogenous doubling of the legal minimum pension in Ukraine as a unique quasi-experiment to evaluate the income effect on various aspects of labor supply among the elderly. In contrast to previous studies, the unusually simple pension eligibility rule allows estimating a pure causal income effect. Applying difference-indifferences and regression discontinuity methods on two nationally representative data sets yields a retirement elasticity of 0.3. Men and women respond at different margins of labor supply but with similar overall effect. Despite retirement incentives being disproportionally large for low income earners old-age poverty declined significantly.
