No abstract

This paper studies labour force participation of older individuals in 11 European countries. The data are drawn from the new Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We examine the value added of objective health indicators in relation to potentially endogenous self-reported health. We approach the endogeneity of self-reported health as an omitted variables problem. In line with the literature on the reliability of self-reported health ambiguous results are obtained. In some countries self-reported health does a fairly good job and controlling for objective health indicators does not add much to the analysis. In other countries, however, the results show that objective health indicators add significantly to the analysis and that self-reported health is endogenous due to omitted objective health indicators. These latter results illustrate the multi-dimensional nature of health and the need to control for objective health indicators when analysing the relation between health status and labour force participation. This makes an instrumental variables approach to deal with the endogeneity of self-reported health less appropriate.

The Dutch pension system is highly ranked on adequacy. These rankings, however, are based on fictitious replacement rates for median income earners. This paper investigates whether the Dutch pension adequacy is still high when we take into account the resources that people really accumulate, using a large administrative data set. A comprehensive approach is followed: not only public and private pension rights, but also private savings and housing wealth are taken into account. Summed over all ageand socioeconomic groups we find a median gross replacement rate of 83% and a net replacement rate of 101%. At retirement age, 31% of all households face a gross replacement rate that is lower than 70% of current income. Public and occupational pensions each account for more than 35% of total pension annuities. Private non-housing assets account for 14% and imputed rental income from net housing wealth accounts for about 10%. Some vulnerable groups, such as the self-employed, have below average replacement rates. Results are fairly similar to results found in the UK, indicating that we should be careful in evaluating the adequacy of pensions systems on the basis of fictitious replacement rates. Adequate retirement savingsIn many Western countries, pension systems are affected by demographic aging (OECD, 2013) and reforms are needed to keep the system sustainable and adequate. A good pension system protects people against poverty and smooths people's income over their life-cycle. To achieve these goals countries organize their pension system in very different ways. Considerable effort has been made to compare pension systems across countries and to identify strengths and weaknesses of different systems (OECD, * This study is part of an international comparative study regarding Retirement Savings Adequacy organized by the OECD. We thank Netspar and Instituut Gak for their financial support. We would like to thank seminar participants at the OECD Paris, WRR Den Haag, FISS Sigtuna, CPB Den Haag and IIPF Taormina. More specifically, we are indebted to anonymous referees,

No abstract