Weaver D A
Division of Economic Research, Office of Research and Statistics, Social Security Administration.
Soc Secur Bull. 1994 Spring;57(1):3-24.
This article reviews the economic literature on the work and retirement decisions of older women. Economic studies generally find that married women respond to the financial reward for work (for example, wages) in making their work and retirement decisions, but that they do not respond to unearned income and wealth (for example, the value of lifetime Social Security benefits). Unmarried women are found to respond to all types of financial variables. Most economic studies find that the family plays only a limited role in the work and retirement decisions of women. The retirement status of the husband does influence the wife's retirement decision, but the health status of the husband does not. The presence of dependents in the household, regardless of whether they are children or parents, is not found to influence work and retirement among women. The relevance of these results to Social Security policy is discussed. There are a number of reasons to be cautious about the results. The literature to date is small; it is based on data that are deficient in some respects, and it contains studies that have methodological problems. These problems are discussed and prospects for future research are explored.
本文回顾了关于老年女性工作与退休决策的经济学文献。经济研究普遍发现，已婚女性在做出工作和退休决策时会对工作的经济回报（如工资）做出反应，但她们对非劳动收入和财富（如终身社会保障福利的价值）没有反应。研究发现，未婚女性会对所有类型的财务变量做出反应。大多数经济研究发现，家庭在女性的工作和退休决策中只起有限的作用。丈夫的退休状况确实会影响妻子的退休决策，但丈夫的健康状况则不会。家庭中是否有受抚养人，无论他们是孩子还是父母，都不会影响女性的工作和退休情况。本文还讨论了这些结果与社会保障政策的相关性。对这些结果持谨慎态度有若干原因。迄今为止的文献数量较少；它基于某些方面存在缺陷的数据，并且包含存在方法问题的研究。本文讨论了这些问题，并探索了未来研究的前景。
