EARLY RETIREMENT OF WAGE-EARNERS IN BELGIUM

This paper proposes an analysis of early retirement for private sector workers in Belgium. On the contrary of early studies in this field (Pestieau and Stijns [1999] and Dellis et al. [2004]), our study is based on a structural model of labour supply. This has the advantage of allowing us to test potential policy reforms aiming at increasing the participation of older workers. Our results show that preferences for leisure at older ages are high and that the incentives towards early retirement are important. Particularly, nearly free access to a variety of early retirement schemes at younger ages constitute a brake to continued activity.