• Graduate program
    • Why Tinbergen Institute?
    • Program Structure
    • Courses
    • Course Registration
    • Facilities
    • Admissions
    • Recent PhD Placements
  • Research
  • News
  • Events
    • Summer School
      • Summer School
      • Behavioral Macro and Complexity
      • Climate Change
      • Econometrics and Data Science Methods for Business, Economics and Finance
      • Networks in Micro- and Macroeconomics
      • Business Data Science Summer School Program
    • Events Calendar
    • Events Archive
    • Tinbergen Institute Lectures
    • Conference: Consumer Search and Markets
    • Annual Tinbergen Institute Conference
  • Summer School
  • Alumni
  • Times

Lindeboom, M., Montizaan, R. and de Grip, A. (2012). Shattered Dreams: The effect of Changing the Pensions System Late in the Game Economic Journal, 122(559):1--25.


  • Journal
    Economic Journal

This article assesses the impact of a dramatic reform of the Dutch pension system on the mental health of workers nearing retirement age. The reform means that public sector workers born on 1 January 1950 or later face a substantial reduction in their pension rights while, for workers born before 1950 nothing changes. We employ a unique-matched survey and administrative dataset comprising male public sector workers born in 1949 and 1950 and find a strong deterioration in mental health for workers affected by the reform. These effects are stronger for married workers whose partner has no pension income. © 2011 The Author(s). The Economic Journal © 2011 Royal Economic Society.