THESIS
2015
iii leaves, iv-viii, 46 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm
Abstract
Retirement is a major life-cycle shock. China offers an interesting environment to study
ageing issues, but studies on retirement effects among China’s aging population are almost
absent in the literature.Using CHARLS 2011 and 2013 wave data, this study adopts afuzzy
regression continuity (RD) design and “eligible for mandatory retirement age” as an
instrumental variable (IV) to establish causal effects of retirement on multiple mental health
outcomes, including cognitive functioning, life satisfaction and depression, among Chinese
wage-earning urban individuals. Results indicate that retirement has significant negative
effects on life satisfaction among men, predominantly those with low SES. Retirement is not
found to have an immediate effect on cognitive abilities. However, la...[
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Retirement is a major life-cycle shock. China offers an interesting environment to study
ageing issues, but studies on retirement effects among China’s aging population are almost
absent in the literature.Using CHARLS 2011 and 2013 wave data, this study adopts afuzzy
regression continuity (RD) design and “eligible for mandatory retirement age” as an
instrumental variable (IV) to establish causal effects of retirement on multiple mental health
outcomes, including cognitive functioning, life satisfaction and depression, among Chinese
wage-earning urban individuals. Results indicate that retirement has significant negative
effects on life satisfaction among men, predominantly those with low SES. Retirement is not
found to have an immediate effect on cognitive abilities. However, lagged retirement status
has significant negative effects on episodic memory for women, suggesting that retirement
may have gradual effects on cognitive abilities. The magnitudes of the coefficients for actual
working status are larger than those for formal retirement status, indicating that the actual
labor supply decision matters more for mental health than administrative retirement.
Keywords:retirement, cognitive functioning, life satisfaction, regression discontinuity
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