Old-age benefits and retirement decisions of rural elderly in Brazil

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Development Economics
Year: 2008
Volume: 86
Issue: 1
Pages: 129-146

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

I estimate the impact of social security benefits on retirement decisions of rural workers by studying changes in the rules governing old-age benefits for rural workers in Brazil. I focus on a reform implemented in 1991, which reduced the minimum eligibility age, increased benefits, and extended the program to non-heads of households. Because those benefits come with no strings attached -- they are not means or retirement tested -- any behavioral response is a pure income effect. The main finding of the paper is that access to old-age benefits is a strong determinant of retirement of rural workers in Brazil: receiving old-age benefits increases the probability of not working by about thirty-eight percentage points and reduces total hours per week by 22½ h.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:deveco:v:86:y:2008:i:1:p:129-146
Journal Field
Development
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25