Does retirement affect voluntary work provision? Evidence from Europe and the U.S.

We examine whether retirement has a causal effect on the frequency of voluntary work provision in Europe and the U.S. We draw on data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the Health Retirement Study for the period 2009–2017 and use eligibility ages for old age pensions in an instrumental variable estimation to address endogeneity. We find that retirement increases the frequency of voluntary work provision in all countries.