Social Security and Labour Supply: the Italian 1992 Reform as a Natural Experiment

This paper provides new evidence about the effects of economic incentives embedded in the Italian Social Security system on retirement decisions. The 1992 reform is an interesting example since it was implemented when: (a) the system was very generous to retirees; (b) the demographic context was dramatic;(c) an early retirement provision, and no actuarial fairness, distorted retirement choices. I use the reform as a natural experiment and exploit its differential effect on individuals belonging to different groups, namely blue- and white-collar workers. I find evidence that Social Security wealth has a larger impact on retirement choices compared to estimates in previous studies