To a backdrop of ageing societies, pension crises and labour market reforms, this book investigates how the policy shift from early retirement to active ageing has affected individual retirement behaviour.

Chapter 1. Retirement Transitions in Times of Institutional Change – Theoretical Concept; Dirk Hofäcker and Jonas Radl.- Chapter 2. Trends and Determinants of Retirement Transition in Europe, the United States and Japan: A Comparative Overview; Stefanie König, Moritz Hess, and Dirk Hofäcker.- Chapter 3. Determinants of retirement and late career in Estonia; Marge Unt and Ellu Saar.- Chapter 4. Path dependency versus new determinants of retirement in the Czech Republic; Lucie Vidovićová.- Chapter 5. Retirement in a context of strong institutional uncertainty and territorial diversities: The case of Italy; Sonia Bertolini, Nicola De Luigi, Barbara Giullari, Valentina Goglio, Roberto Rizza, and Federica Santangelo.- Chapter 6. Flow and ebb of early retirement: Pension reform and labor market participation of older workers in Spain; Elisa Chuliá, Luis Garrido, and Jonas Radl.- Chapter 7. Germany: A Successful Reversal of Early Retirement?; Moritz Hess.- Chapter 8. From early exitto postponing pension: How the Dutch polder model shapes retirement; Maria Fleischmann and Ferry Koster.- Chapter 9. Retirement determinants in Austria: An aging society but a hesitant policymaker; Lisa Schmidthuber, Heike Schröder, and Edmund Panzenböck.- Chapter 10. Employment and retirement of older workers in the UK; Matt Flynn and Yuxin Li.- Chapter 11. Japan: Determinants of retirement in a hyper-aged society; Masa Higo, Heike Schröder and Atsuhiro Yamada.- Chapter 12. The gendered and liberal retirement regime in Switzerland; Ignacio Madero-Cabib.- Chapter 13. The outdistanced vanguard: Early retirement policy in Denmark as an obstacle to progress in active aging; Stefanie König and Julia Schilling.- Chapter 14. Sweden: Steeply rising older workers’ employment rates in a late-exit country; Stefanie König and Gabriella Sjögren Lindquist.- Chapter 15. Increasing Heterogeneity of Retirement in the United States: Interactions Between State, Firm, and Individual Determinants of Later-Life Labor Force Withdrawal; David F. Warner.- Chapter 16. Retirement Transitions under Changing Institutional Conditions: Towards Increasing Inequalities? Comparing evidence from 13 countries; Moritz Hess, Stefanie König, and Dirk Hofäcker.

To a backdrop of ageing societies, pension crises and labour market reforms, this book investigates how the policy shift from early retirement to active ageing has affected individual retirement behaviour. Focusing on eleven European countries, the United States and Japan, it brings together leading international experts to analyze recent changes in pension systems. Their findings demonstrate that there has been a fundamental transition in pension policies and a steep increase in older workers’ retirement ages and employment rates. Yet changes in retirement behavior are not evenly distributed across all societal strata. This raises the serious concern that an overall rise in the retirement age will be accompanied by the re-emergence of social inequality in the transition from work to retirement. This innovative edited collection will appeal to students and scholars of sociology, economics, political science, human resources management, gerontology and social policy, and also to policy-makers and professionals dealing with older workers. 

“This unique book offers an excellent and comprehensive overview of recent pension and labor market reforms and the way in which they have affected retirement transitions of older workers in thirteen countries. The book not only provides an impressive synthesis of the state of the art in the discussion about ‘Active Ageing’, but also proposes a novel and innovative theoretical framework to scientifically analyse retirement transitions under changing contextual conditions.  This is an indispensable text for scientist, students, and practitioners in the fields of pension and retirement research.” (Gerd Naegele, Director, Institute of Gerontology, TU Dortmund University, Germany)

"This unique book offers an excellent and comprehensive overview of recent pension and labor market reforms and the way in which they have affected retirement transitions of older workers in thirteen countries. The book not only provides an impressive synthesis of the state of the art in the discussion about 'Active Ageing', but also proposes a novel and innovative theoretical framework to scientifically analyse retirement transitions under changing contextual conditions. This is an indispensable text for scientist, students, and practitioners in the fields of pension and retirement research." (Gerd Naegele, Director, Institute of Gerontology, TU Dortmund University, Germany)

Provides a much-needed international and comparative perspective on pensions and ageing Takes the discussion beyond push and pull factors to highlight the complexity of retirement decisions Considers macro, micro and meso drivers to innovative effect

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