Couples' decisions and retirement age in EuropeA comparative study of three traditions of the Welfare State

Abstract

This research analyses from a theoretical, empirical and comparative perspective couples’ decision-making and retirement ages within seven European Union-15 countries belonging to three Welfare State traditions: Social Democratic (Sweden and Denmark), Christian Democratic (Germany and Belgium) and Southern Europe (Spain, Italy and Greece). The fundamental theories and empirical evidence of literature on individual and couples’ retirement is explored in the second and third chapters. A theoretical and empirical analysis is conducted, from a macro institutional approach, on the influence of the four regimes (labour, Welfare State, retirement and gender) on retirement in the three traditions analysed in the fourth chapter. The outcomes indicate that there are three institutional contexts regarding couples’ retirement in Europe where each countries’ tradition shares some characteristics internally, while having, at the same time, differences amongst them. In the last chapter and from this typology, countries are grouped into the three traditions and an econometric micro analysis performed. The outcomes indicate that couples’ retirement ages are conditioned by the spouses’ variables albeit with different intensity, depending on the Welfare State tradition and the institutional context of the analysed countries.