• AEA
  • About the AEA
  • Committees
  • Honors & Awards
  • For Graduate Students
  • For Undergrad Students
  • News & Notes
  • Officers
  • General Information
  • Minutes
  • UA Questionnaire
  • Continuing Education
  • Directory of Members
  • Call for Papers
  • Media
• Journals
  • AEJ: Applied Economics
  • AEJ: Economic Policy
  • AEJ: Macroeconomics
  • AEJ: Microeconomics
  • American Economic Review
  • Journal of Economic Literature
  • Journal of Economic Perspectives
  • eTOCs
  • Virtual Field Journals
  • Institutional Subscriptions
  • AEA Journals on JSTOR
  • Ads in Journals
  • Back Issues Order Forms
  • Copyright & Permissions
• Annual Meeting
  • Submissions
  • Registration/Housing
  • Preliminary Program
  • ASSA 2013 App
  • Annual Meeting Papers
  • Annual Meeting Webcasts
  • Disclosure Code Information
  • Exhibitors
  • Exhibitors & Advertisers Forms
  • Special Event Form
  • Continuing Education
  • Econ-Harmony
  • Archive of Past Programs
• EconLit
  • EconLit Access
  • EconLit Deskop Link
  • EconLit for Members
  • JEL Codes Guide
  • JEL Classifications
  • Journal List
  • Contacts/Corrections
  • Upcoming Exhibits
  • Document Types
  • Search Hints
• Jobs
  • JOE Listings
  • Submit a JOE Listing
  • Job Market Signaling
  • Job Market Scramble
  • Available Retired Faculty
• Resources
  • Resources For Economists
  • RFE Abridged Contents
  • RFE Search
  • RFE Conferences
  • Econ Search Engine
• Members
  • Member Login
  • Become a Member
  • Directory of Members
  • EconLit for Members
  • AEA Journals on JSTOR
  • Econ-Harmony
  • Annual Meeting Webcasts
  • Browse JEL Indexes
  • Virtual Field Journals
  • Institutional Subscriptions

View Settings

This setting lets you change the way you view articles. You can choose to have articles open in a dialog window, a new tab, or directly in the same window.

Open in Dialog
Open in New Tab
Open in same window

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics: Vol. 4 No. 3 (July 2012)

AEJ: Applied Volume. 4, Issue 3 | Previous ArticleNext Article

Expand

Quick Tools:

Print Article Summary Email Link to this Article

To Email:

From Email:

Message:

Email Link to Article Change Captcha Export Citation

BibTeX EndNote Refer/BibIX RIS Tab-Delimited Export Sign up for Email Alerts Follow us on Twitter Subscription Information
(Institutional Administrator Access)

Explore:

AEJ: Applied - All Issues

AEJ: Applied Forthcoming Articles

When They're Sixty-Four: Peer Effects and the Timing of Retirement

Article Citation

Brown, Kristine M., and Ron A. Laschever. 2012. "When They're Sixty-Four: Peer Effects and the Timing of Retirement." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 4(3): 90-115.

DOI: 10.1257/app.4.3.90

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of peers on an individual's likelihood of retirement using an administrative dataset of all retirement-eligible Los Angeles teachers for the years 1998-2001. We use two large unexpected pension reforms that differentially impacted financial incentives within and across schools to construct an instrument for others' retirement decisions. Controlling for individual and school characteristics, we find that the retirement of an additional teacher in the previous year at the same school increases a teacher's own likelihood of retirement by 1.5-2 percentage points. We then explore some possible mechanisms through which this effect operates. (JEL H75, I21, J14, J26, J45)

Article Full-Text Access

Full-text Article

Additional Materials

Download Data Set (5.47 MB) | Online Appendix (109.69 KB)

Authors

Brown, Kristine M. (U IL)
Laschever, Ron A. (U IL)

JEL Classifications

H75: State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
I21: Analysis of Education
J14: Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-labor Market Discrimination
J26: Retirement; Retirement Policies
J45: Public Sector Labor Markets

Comments

View Comments on This Article (2) | Login to post a comment

Subject: Social Security and teachers
Posted By: DOUGLAS A FOX (Economic Research Services Group, INC.)
Date: 2012-07-09 11:39:19

You say that teachers in California are not covered by Social Security. Do you know if that is true of other states?

Subject: Re: Social Security and teachers
Posted By: KRISTINE M. BROWN (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) (Article Author)
Date: 2012-07-10 13:08:47

Dear Dr. Fox - Thank you for your comment. This is an interesting topic. A state or local government agency is not required to participate in Social Security as long as it is providing a pension for its employees. As a result, some public employees in the U.S. are not covered by Social Security. Public school teachers are not covered in about a dozen states, including California.