Mental retirement
Open accessAbstract
Early retirement appears to have a significant negative impact on the cognitive ability of people in their early 60s that is both quantitatively important and causal. We obtain this finding using cross-nationally comparable survey data from the United States, England, and Europe that allow us to relate cognition and labor force status. We argue that the effect is causal by making use of a substantial body of research showing that variation in pension, tax, and disability policies explain most variation across countries in average retirement rates. (In an informal manner, we are arguing that public policies that affect the age of retirement may be used as instrumental variables to generate cross-country variation in retirement behavior in order to identify the causal effect of retirement on cognition.)
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In countries with younger compared with higher retirement ages, average cognitive performance drops more.
“In countries with younger compared to higher retirement ages, average cognitive performance drops more.49”
From Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission (2020) · cites this paper as [49]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition
Salthouse, T. A. (1996) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.103.3.403 · Cited by 5,568 · see citing works
The Technology of Skill Formation
Cunha, F., & Heckman, J. J. (2007) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.97.2.31 · Cited by 3,174 · see citing works
The Production of Human Capital and the Life Cycle of Earnings
Ben-Porath, Y. (1967) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/259291 · Cited by 2,702 · see citing works
Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: What IQ tests really measure.
Flynn, J. R. (1987) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.171 · Cited by 1,918 · see citing works
The Role of Premarket Factors in Black-White Wage Differences
Neal, D. A., & Johnson, W. R. (1996) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/262045 · Cited by 1,340 · see citing works
The mean IQ of Americans: Massive gains 1932 to 1978.
Flynn, J. R. (1984) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.95.1.29 · Cited by 1,206 · see citing works
Use it or lose it: Engaged lifestyle as a buffer of cognitive decline in aging?
Hultsch, D. F., Hertzog, C. K., Small, B. J., & Dixon, R. A. (1999) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037//0882-7974.14.2.245 · Cited by 1,023 · see citing works
Use it or lose it: Engaged lifestyle as a buffer of cognitive decline in aging?
Hultsch, D. F., Hertzog, C., Small, B. J., & Dixon, R. A. (1999) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.14.2.245 · Cited by 1,023 · see citing works
A dynamical model of general intelligence: The positive manifold of intelligence by mutualism.
Van Der Maas, H. L. J., Dolan, C. V., Grasman, R. P. P. P., Wicherts, J. M., Huizenga, H. M., & Raijmakers, M. E. J. (2006) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.113.4.842 · Cited by 1,006 · see citing works
Ceci, S. J. (1991) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.27.5.703 · Cited by 837 · see citing works
Mental Exercise and Mental Aging: Evaluating the Validity of the “Use It or Lose It” Hypothesis
Salthouse, T. A. (2006) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00005.x · Cited by 679 · see citing works
Heritability estimates versus large environmental effects: The IQ paradox resolved.
Dickens, W. T., & Flynn, J. R. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.2.346 · Cited by 663 · see citing works
McArdle, J. J., Ferrer-Caja, E., Hamagami, F., & Woodcock, R. W. (2002) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.38.1.115 · Cited by 544 · see citing works
Retirement effects on health in Europe
Coe, N. B., & Zamarro, G. (2010) · Journal of Health Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.11.002 · Cited by 492 · see citing works
Heckman, J. J. (1995) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/262014 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
ISRAELI MILITARY IQ TESTS: GENDER DIFFERENCES SMALL; IQ GAINS LARGE
Flynn, J. R. (1998) · Journal of Biosocial Science · doi:10.1017/s0021932098005410 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Rönnlund, M., & Nilsson, L. (2007) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2007.05.002 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Bonsang Eric Adam Stéphane Perelman Sergio Does retirement affect cognitive performance? 2009 Paper presented at SHARE Users Conference Mainz, Germany October 12-13, 2009
- Börsch-Supan Axel Wise David Disability: The Effects of Demography, Health, and Disability Insurance Research Findings in the Economics of Aging 2009 University of Chicago Press (forthcoming)
- Dickens William T. What Is g? 2007 Paper presented at the 2nd Scheeling Symposium University of Maryland College Park, MD
- Gruber Jonathan Wise David A. Social Security and Retirement Around the World 1999 University of Chicago Press Chicago
- Herrnstein Richard Murray Charles The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life The Free Press New York
- Park Denise Gutchess Angela The Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging and Culture Current Directions in Psychological Science 2006 Vol. 15 No. 3 105 108
- Salthouse Timothy A. Age Differences in Cognitive Functioning for Work 2008 Presented at conference on “To What Age Should We Expect to Work?” Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission
Livingston, G., Huntley, J., Sommerlad, A., Ames, D., Ballard, C., Banerjee, S., Brayne, C., Burns, A., Cohen-Mansfield, J., Cooper, C., et al. (2020) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30367-6 · Cited by 10,430 · see citing works
RetractedCohort Profile: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
Sonnega, A., Faul, J. D., Ofstedal, M. B., Langa, K. M., Phillips, J. W., & Weir, D. R. (2014) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/dyu067 · Cited by 2,318 · see citing works
Do “brain-training” programs work?
Simons, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Gathercole, S. E., Chabris, C. F., Hambrick, D. Z., & Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. (2016) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1177/1529100616661983 · Cited by 1,183 · see citing works
Mental work demands, retirement, and longitudinal trajectories of cognitive functioning.
Fisher, G. G., Stachowski, A., Infurna, F. J., Faul, J. D., Grosch, J., & Tetrick, L. E. (2014) · Journal of Occupational Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0035724 · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Social participation and risk of developing dementia
Sommerlad, A., Kivimäki, M., Larson, E. B., Röhr, S., Shirai, K., Singh-Manoux, A., & Livingston, G. (2023) · Nature Aging · doi:10.1038/s43587-023-00387-0 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Training versus engagement as paths to cognitive enrichment with aging.
Stine-Morrow, E. A. L., Payne, B. R., Roberts, B. W., Kramer, A. F., Morrow, D. G., Payne, L., Hill, P. L., Jackson, J. J., Gao, X., Noh, S. R., et al. (2014) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/a0038244 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Effect of retirement on cognitive function: the Whitehall II cohort study
Xue, B., Cadar, D., Fleischmann, M., Stansfeld, S., Carr, E., Kivimäki, M., McMunn, A., & Head, J. (2018) · European Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s10654-017-0347-7 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Staff, R. T., Hogan, M. J., Williams, D. S., & Whalley, L. J. (2018) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.k4925 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
The Flynn effect and population aging
Skirbekk, V., Stonawski, M., Bonsang, E., & Staudinger, U. M. (2013) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2013.02.001 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
The impact of retirement on age related cognitive decline - a systematic review
Meng, A., Nexø, M. A., & Borg, V. (2017) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/s12877-017-0556-7 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Mental retirement and health selection: Analyses from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study
Clouston, S. A. P., & Denier, N. (2017) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.019 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Grotz, C., Meillon, C., Amieva, H., Stern, Y., Dartigues, J.-F., Adam, S., & Letenneur, L. (2016) · The Journal of nutrition, health and aging · doi:10.1007/s12603-015-0599-4 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Occupation, retirement and cognitive functioning
KAJITANI, S., SAKATA, K., & MCKENZIE, C. (2017) · Ageing and Society · doi:10.1017/s0144686x16000465 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Retirement and cognition: a life course view
Denier, N., Clouston, S. A. P., Richards, M., & Hofer, S. M. (2017) · Advances in Life Course Research · doi:10.1016/j.alcr.2016.10.004 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
What are the later life contributions to reserve, resilience, and compensation?
Burke, S. N., Mormino, E. C., Rogalski, E. J., Kawas, C. H., Willis, R. J., & Park, D. C. (2019) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.03.023 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Rohwedder, S., & Willis, R. J.
- Affiliations
- Tilburg University (NL)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Economic Perspectives
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2010-02-01
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 119-138
- ISSN
- 0895-3309 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2958696
- OpenAlex
- W4233822389
- Cited by
- 434
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 37.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- The Journal of Economic Perspectives (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (P01AG022481, P01AG008291, P01AG026571)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD041028)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Retirement, Disability, and Employment
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Accounting › Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Keywords
- retirement, cognitive decline, mental exercise, cognitive ability, older adults, pension policy, endogenous retirement, daily routine, mental stimulation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
