TY - THES T1 - Extending the working lives of older workers: The impact of Social Security policies and labor market Y1 - 2010 A1 - Xiaoyan Li KW - Employment and Labor Force KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction KW - Social Security AB - This dissertation addresses several issues related to public policies that encourage the extension of working lives of the elderly in the United States. It consists of three chapters. The first chapter and the second chapter of the dissertation evaluate the impacts of the increase in the Social Security Full Retirement Age (FRA) from age 65 (for those born before 1937) to age 66 (for those born between 1943 and 1954). As the FRA rises, the relative generosity of Social Security disability benefits in comparison to retirement benefits is rising, increasing the incentive for insured people to apply for disability benefits. The first chapter uses the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to estimate this spillover effect. I find that an average four-month increase in the FRA modestly increases the two-year disability benefits application rate by 0.34 percentage points. The effect is greater (0.77 percentage points) among those with a work-limiting health problem. The increase in the FRA also creates an incentive for older workers to increase their labor supply. Using the Basic Monthly Current Population Survey 1994-2009, the second chapter estimates that the labor force participation rate of men aged 62-65 increased by 3.5-4.5 percentage points in response to a one-year increase in the FRA. The third chapter of the dissertation answers the question, "To what extent can the elderly readily find suitable jobs if they want or need to work?" This chapter shows that the employment transition rates are relatively low for older job searchers in the Health and Retirement Study: only half of older searchers successfully attain jobs. A negative age gradient in job attainment is estimated from a set of reduced-form econometric models, which although not conclusive, corroborates other evidence in the literature of statistical age discrimination in the labor market for older workers. PB - The Pardee RAND Graduate School VL - PhD U4 - Retirement age JO - Extending the working lives of older workers: The impact of Social Security policies and labor market ER - TY - RPRT T1 - How Parents Play Favorites: Evidence from Grandchild Care, Financial Transfers, and Coresidency Y1 - 2009 A1 - Xiaoyan Li KW - Adult children PB - Beijing, China, China Center for Economic Research, Peking University U4 - Transfers/Families/Inter Vivos Transfers ER - TY - RPRT T1 - The Characteristics of Social Security Beneficiaries Who Claim Benefits at the Early Entitlement Age Y1 - 2008 A1 - Xiaoyan Li A1 - Michael D Hurd A1 - Loughran, David KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction KW - Social Security PB - AARP Public Policy Institute UR - http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/2008_19_beneficiaries.pdf U4 - social Security/retirement planning/early Retirement ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Does the Rise in the Full Retirement Age Encourage Disability Benefits Applications? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study Y1 - 2008 A1 - Xiaoyan Li A1 - Nicole Maestas KW - Disabilities KW - Public Policy KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction KW - Social Security AB - As the Social Security full retirement age rises, the relative generosity of Social Security retirement benefits compared to disability benefits is declining, raising the incentive for insured people to apply for disability benefits. After controlling for other differences in observable characteristics, such as life-time earnings, we find that an average four month increase in the FRA slightly increases the two-year DI application rate by 0.04-0.30 percentage points. The effect is greater among those with a work limiting health problem (0.22-0.89 percentage points) PB - Ann Arbor, University of Michigan UR - https://mrdrc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/does-the-rise-in-the-full-retirement-age-encourage-disability-benefits-applications-evidence-from-the-health-and-retirement-study/ U4 - social Security/disability benefits/retirement planning/Public Policy ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Burnout and the Retirement Decision Y1 - 2007 A1 - Nicole Maestas A1 - Xiaoyan Li KW - Employment and Labor Force KW - Healthcare KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction AB - We introduce the process of psychological burnout and recovery as an explanation for the phenomenon known as unretirement. We illustrate theoretically how predictable time variation in burnout could generate retirement and subsequent re-entry in a standard retirement model. We apply this model to the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study, presenting a novel measure of burnout, the Burnout EX3 Index. The index is correlated with different types of work stressors, and its time profile discriminates among different types of retirees. For example, prior to retirement, burnout rises steeply for future unretirees then falls rapidly after retirement; whereas burnout among future partial retirees is low and changes little over time. Using a series of econometric models derived from our theoretical model, we show that as burnout rises, retirement becomes more probable, and as burnout recedes following retirement, re-entry becomes more probable. While access to public and private pension benefits increases the likelihood of retirement for all retirees, pension accruals are least important for those who will later unretire, suggesting that unretirees are more willing to trade future gains in pension wealth for leisure than other retirees. Indeed, for this group, the effect of burnout dominates that of the net return to work. JF - Retirement Research Center PB - Michigan Retirement Research Center, University of Michigan CY - Ann Arbor, MI UR - http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/57428 U4 - Retirement Behavior/Psychology/labor market behavior ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Discouraged Workers? Job Search Outcomes of Older Workers Y1 - 2006 A1 - Nicole Maestas A1 - Xiaoyan Li KW - Employment and Labor Force AB - Many have suggested we adopt policies that explicitly encourage the elderly to work. Behind this suggestion is the assumption that if an older person desires a job, one will be found; however, little is known about the extent to which this is true, and in the Health and Retirement Study, many more respondents say they expect to work after retirement than actually undertake work. This raises an important question: To what extent can the elderly readily find suitable jobs? In the context of a theoretical job search model, we examine the decision to search for a job and the probability of transitioning to employment using a large sample of non-workers from the Health and Retirement Study. The effects of both supply-side factors (individual characteristics) and demand-side factors (local labor market conditions) are estimated. We find employment transition rates are relatively low for older searchers: only half of older searchers successfully attain jobs. We examine various explanations for this result, including variation in search intensity, reservation wages, and the possibility of intervening health shocks. We conclude that about 13 of older job searchers becomes a discouraged worker in the sense of being willing to work at the prevailing wage, but unable to find a job. PB - The University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center UR - https://mrdrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/Papers/pdf/wp133.pdf U4 - Older Workers/Job Search Behavior ER -