The Effect of Inheritance Receipt on Retirement
利用继承收入作为财富冲击，发现继承显著提高退休概率，尤其是意外继承时，这对理解养老金和税收改革如何通过财富效应影响退休有启示。
This paper provides new evidence on how wealth shocks influence retirement behavior. Economic theory generally posits that leisure is a normal good, yet it is difficult to obtain reliable empirical estimates of the wealth effect because wealth is correlated with numerous unobservable characteristics that affect labor supply. We use inheritance receipt as a wealth shock and find that it is associated with a significant increase in the probability of retirement, especially when the inheritance is unexpected. This evidence has important implications for how public policies, such as pension or tax reform, may influence retirement behavior through the wealth effect. © 2010 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.