Is there any link between early retirement and cognitive decline ?

Abstract

The models in this paper aim at checking if there is a link between early retirement and cognitive ageing with the 5th wave of SHARE survey. The early retirement variable will be the difference between the age at retirement and the corresponding OECD average effective retirement age. Next to that, after setting a conceptual framework around cognitive ageing and review articles working with retirement and cognitive performance, the model will use explanatory variables such as the educational level, the practice of extraprofessional activities and the fact of not working in order to compare various types of individuals at a certain period (2013). It will turn out that all those variables will significantly impact the cognitive test result. More specifically, being a woman, being more educated, working later than the average and practicing extraprofessional activities impact positively the result of the memory test. At the same time, not working and being older influence negatively the result at the memory test. However, this paper did not take into account the type of job exerted and the double causality between retirement and cognitive performance.