How Couples Retire in Germany

In economic theory, retirement is described as an individual decision in which the opportunity costs of leisure time are weighed against the anticipated retirement income. How the household context influences the decision to retire has so far received little attention, not least due to a lack of data. In the present study, data from the Socio-Economic Panel and the German Pension Insurance Fund are used to examine the extent to which couples coordinate their retirement plans and take a joint decision. Our analysis shows that joint retirement occurs less often than it is desired. In particular, a change in behaviour can be observed in the cohort of pensioners born in or after 1947, for whom the statutory retirement age has been gradually rising. In the preceding pensioner cohort, the older member of the couple tended to work until closer to the standard retirement age than their younger partner. For the pensioner cohorts born after 1947, the opposite is the case: the younger member of the couple has tended to work until closer to the standard retirement age than their older partner. An econometric analysis of two reforms, the increase in the statutory retirement age and the recent introduction of a full pension two years before the standard retirement age for those with a particularly long contribution record, shows that they are not the cause of this behaviour reversal.