Social Security and the Determinants of Full and Partial Retirement: A Competing Risks Analysis

Empirical analyses of retirement typically assume a single form of retirement. In this paper, I consider the determinants of retirement in a competing risks model which allows for full and partial retirement. Simulation results indicate that the large increase in Social Security benefits in the early 1970s has had moderate effects upon retirement, increasing the probability of early full retirement (before age 65) by less than 5 percent and reducing the probability of partial retirement by 1-2 percent.