TY - RPRT T1 - Does Retirement Improve Health and Life Satisfaction? Y1 - 2015 A1 - Gorry, Aspen A1 - Gorry, Devon A1 - Sita Nataraj Slavov KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Pensions KW - Public Policy KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction KW - Social Security AB - We utilize panel data from the Health and Retirement Study to investigate the impact of retirement on physical and mental health, life satisfaction, and health care utilization. Because poor health can induce retirement, we instrument for retirement using eligibility for Social Security and employer sponsored pensions and coverage by the Social Security earnings test. We find strong evidence that retirement improves both health and life satisfaction. While the impact on life satisfaction occurs within the first 4 years of retirement, many of the improvements in health show up 4 or more years later, consistent with the view that health is a stock that evolves slowly. We find little evidence that retirement influences health care utilization. UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w21326.pdf U4 - Health Status/Retirement planning/life satisfaction/life satisfaction/public policy/social security earnings and benefits/pensions ER -