Abstract
By most standards retirement policy in the United States has been a success. The Social Security system (Old-Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance, or OASDHI) provides a retirement pension and health benefits to most older workers and their families. The Supplemental Security Income Program guarantees a minimum income floor for those aged 65 and over regardless of past work histories. Federal tax policy encourages the creation of employer retirement pensions. The growth in both coverage and the size of benefits of this network of social insurance, social welfare, and employer pensions is in large part responsible for the dramatic increase in the well-being of older Americans.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anderson, K. H., R. V. Burkhauser, and J. F. Quinn (1986) Do Retirement Dreams Come True: The Effect of Unanticipated Events on Retirement Plans. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 39, 4, pp. 518–526
Barnow, B. S. and R. G. Ehrenberg (1979) The Costs of Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Firm Adjustments. Quarterly Journal of Economics, pp. 523–540
Becker, G. S. and G. J. Stigler (1974) Law Enforcement, Malfeasance, and Compensation of Enforcers. Journal of Legal Studies 3, pp. 1–18
Blinder, A. S., R. Gordon, and D. E. Wise (1980) Reconsidering the Work Disincentive Effects of Social Security. National Tax Journal 33, pp. 431–442
Burkhauser, R. V. and J. F. Quinn (1983a) The Effect of Pension Plans on the Pattern of Life-Cycle Compensation. In: The Measure of Labor Cost, Jack E. Triplett (Ed.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 395–415
Burkhauser, R. V. and J. F. Quinn (1983b) Is Mandatory Retirement Overrated? Evidence from the 1970s. Journal of Human Resources 18, pp. 337–358
Burkhauser, R. V. and J. A. Turner (1982) Labor-Market Experience of the Almost Old and the Implications for Income Support. American Economic Review 72, pp. 304–308
Burtless, G. (1986) Social Security, Unanticipated Benefit Increases, and the Timing of Retirement. Review of Economic Studies 53, 176, pp. 781–805
Burtless, G. and R. A. Moffitt (1985) The Joint Choice of Retirement Age and Postretirement Hours of Work. Journal of Labor Economics 3, pp. 209–236
Burtless, G. and R. A. Moffit (1986) Social Security, Earnings Tests, and Age of Retirement. Public Finance Quarterly 14, pp. 3–27
Fields, G. S. and O. S. Mitchell (1984) Retirement, Pensions, and Social Security. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
Gordon, R. H. and A. S. Blinder (1980) Market Wages, Reservation Wages, and Retirement Decisions. Journal of Public Economics, pp. 431–442
Gustman, A. A. and T. L. Steinmeier (1984) Partial Retirement and the Analysis of Retirement Behavior. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 37, pp. 403–415
Gustman, A. A. and T. L. Steinmeier (1985) The 1983 Social Security Reforms and Labor Supply Adjustments of Older Individuals in the Long Run. Journal of Labor Economics 3, pp. 237–253
Gustman, A. A. and T. L. Steinmeier (1987) An Analysis of Pension Benefits Formulas, Pension Wealth, and Incentives from Pensions. U.S. Department of Labor (B9P52726), mimeo
Hatch, S. (1981) Financial Retirement Incentives in Private Pension Plans, Urban Institute Report. Draft project report to the Department of Labor, J-9-P-0–0163
Honig, M. and G. Hanoch (1985) Partial Retirement as a Separate Mode of Retirement Behavior. Journal of Human Resources 20, pp. 21–46
Ippolito, R. A. (1986) Pensions, Economics, and Public Policy. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin
Ippolito, R. A. (1987) The Implicit Pension Contract: Developments and New Directions. Journal of Human Resources 22, pp. 441–467
Kotlikoff, L. J. and David A. Wise (1985) Labor Compensation and the Structure of Private Pension Plans: Evidence for Contractual versus Spot Labor Markets. In: Pensions, Labor, and Individual Choice, David A. Wise (Ed.) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
Lazear, E. P. (1979) Why Is There Mandatory Retirement? Journal of Political Economy 87, pp. 1261–1284
Quinn, J. F. (1981) The Extent and Correlates of Partial Retirement. The Gerontologist 21, pp. 634–643
Quinn, J. F. (1987) The Economic Status of the Elderly: Beware of the Mean. Review of Income and Wealth 33, pp. 63–82
Quinn, J. F. and R. V. Burkhauser (1983) Influencing Retirement Behavior: A Key Issue for Social Security. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 3, pp. 1–13
Smolensky, E., S. Danziger, and P. Gottshalk (1988) The Declining Significance of Age in the United States: Trends in the Well-Being of Children and the Elderly since 1939. In: The Vulnerable, J. Palmer, T. Smeeding, and B. Torrey (Eds.) Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, pp. 29–54
Social Security Administration (1987) Annual Statistical Supplement. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office
U.S. Bureau of the Census (1986) Current Population Reports. Series P-60, No. 152. Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty Level: 1984. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office
Ycas, M. and S. Grad (1987) Income of Retirement-Aged Persons, Social Security Bulletin 50, pp. 5–14
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Burkhauser, R.V., Quinn, J.F. (1989). American Patterns of Work and Retirement. In: Schmähl, W. (eds) Redefining the Process of Retirement. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74513-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74513-3_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74515-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74513-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive