Retirement timing and social stratification : a comparative study of labor market exit and age norms in Western Europe

The book addresses a timely issue that attracts both researchers and policy-makers: the factors explaining early retirement. The study uses cutting-edge methodology to produce fresh empirical evidence that sheds a new light on the processes of leaving work and challenges occasionally the conventional wisdom on the cross-national differences in retirement ages.-- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Abstract -- Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical Approaches to Retirement and Early Exit from Work 3. Social Variability in Retirement Behaviour: An Analytical Framework 4. Too Old to Work, or Too Young to Retire? The Pervasiveness of Age Norms in Western European Societies 5. Differential Retirement Behavior in Western Europe: Social Stratification and Cross-National Diversity 6. Retirement Timing and Social Stratification in Spain 7. Retirement Timing and Social Stratification in Germany 8. Conclusions -- References -- IndexPublished version of EUI PhD thesis, 201