Retirement and heterogeneity of older workers : the impact of public policies ; Départ à la retraite et hétérogénéité des seniors : l'impact des politiques publiques

Abstract

The aging of the population calls into question the sustainability of Pay-As-You-Go pension system, especially in Europe. Therefore, several reforms have been implemented to face this demographic challenge. However, the effects of those reforms have been questioned. Indeed, the success of such policies depends on how people respond to changes in their pension eligibility. In reality though, several factors may limit the reforms impact. People are indeed heterogeneous in terms of work environment and family. These heterogeneity may affect their retirement behaviors. To not take into account this individuals' heterogeneity may lead to bias within public policy evaluations. Hence, this thesis analyses, with econometrics methods, determinants of retirement decisions making process by considering this individuals' heterogeneity. First, the heterogeneity within work environment is taken into account by analyzing the role of job quality in the process of retirement decisions. Second, the family heterogeneity is studied by questioning joint retirement process into couples and determinants of this process for each spouse. Third, consequences to public policies are then studied as it is estimated to what extent a change in pension eligibility rules has direct and also spillover effects, through the partner, on spouses' retirement probabilities. Results of this thesis work highlight the significant role of older workers' heterogeneity during retirement decision. Those findings thus encourage policy makers to take into account this individuals' heterogeneity. The coordination of social policies relate to retirement, family and job quality is a key issue for reflection ; Le vieillissement de la population dans les pays développés remet en question la soutenabilité des systèmes de retraite par répartition. Plusieurs réformes ont donc été engagées pour faire face à ce défi démographique. Cependant, les effets des réformes mises en place ont été questionnés. Leur efficacité dépend en effet de la manière dont les seniors ...