Type de document/Document Type	Thèse/Dissertation
Auteur/Author	Maes, Marjan
URN	BelnUcetd-10162008-232757
Langue/Language	Anglais/English
Titre/Title	Essays on financial and distributional implications of retirement in Belgium
Intitulé du diplôme/Degree	ECON 3 - Doctorat en sciences économiques
Département/Department	ESPO/ECON - Département des sciences économiques
Jury/Advisors	Nom Titre Cockx, Bart Membre du jury/Committee Member Docquier, Frederic Membre du jury/Committee Member Schokkaert, Erik Membre du jury/Committee Member de la Croix, David Président du jury/Committee Chair Pestieau, Pierre Promoteur/Director Vandenberghe, Vincent Promoteur/Director
Mots-clés/Keywords	Retirement incentives Pension systems Early retirement Poverty dynamics
Date de défense/Defense Date	2008-10-06
Résumé/Abstract In most industrialized countries demographic trends place pressure on the financial sustainability of pay-as-you-go pension systems. At the same time, these countries are confronted with a socio-economic trend of early retirement that further increases this financial burden. In the last decades, the literature suggested that the pension system itself is responsible for this socio-economic trend, thereby exacerbating the viability problem it faces. Within this literature, we try to contribute by analyzing the distributive and financial impact of several reforms of pension systems in Belgium. In a first paper, the effects of three reforms of the Belgian old-age pension system are examined on retirement behaviour, government budget and income distribution of the retired through the estimation of a discrete-time hazard model in old-age retirement that accounts for simultaneity of the decision to retire with the decision to withdraw occupational pension wealth. We found that pension reforms that penalize early retirement, and in particular penalize early retirement of the rich more than the poor, are not only the ones that enhance the financial sustainability at most but at the same time also lead to the strongest income inequality reduction. The impact of reforming the old-age pension system may be limited if it is not accompanied by changes in eligibility and fiscal rules of the occupational pension system. Although old-age retirement may be voluntary, there exist retirement pathways that early retirees perceive as being “not by choice”. A second paper accommodates voluntary and involuntary labour–supply decisions within a competing risk model into unemployment, early and old-age retirement. In case of a cut in early retirement benefits, the model predicts a strong increase of unemployment in particular for blue-collar workers in traditional industries while white-collar workers, members of occupational pension or voluntary saving plans and the highly educated move in old-age retirement. In a third paper, the fact that retirement may be involuntary raises the question whether early retirement may push elderly in poverty. To the extent that individual characteristics such as low abilities persist over time, they may also be the reason that individuals persist in poverty over time. Alternatively, poverty experience may have a genuine causal impact on future poverty because low income may be associated with work disincentives, depreciation of human capital or loss of motivation. The estimation of a discrete-time multiple-spell hazard model lends support for genuine poverty dependence.