无论疾病或健康：配偶健康冲击下的退休反应
In Sickness and in Health: Retirement Responses to Spousal Health Shocks
NBER Working Papers · 2026 · [{"name": "Hyeran Chung", "affiliation": []}, {"name": "Haena Lee", "affiliation": []}, {"name": "Sita Slavov", "affiliation": []}]
中文摘要
健康冲击是退休的主要驱动因素之一。然而，已有相关文献大多未考虑退休决策发生的婚姻背景。本文利用 1992—2022 年健康与退休研究（HRS）数据，采用交错双重差分方法，考察配偶健康冲击如何影响退休转变，并检验这些效应是否因性别和健康保险状况而存在差异。我们考虑了健康冲击的多种定义，包括自报健康状况下降、新增诊断、住院、自付医疗支出增加以及功能性衰退。结果表明，在配偶被诊断出新的健康问题或住院后，退休概率上升 1.2 至 1.3 个百分点（即 12% 至 13%）。这些退休往往早于预期发生，且更集中于女性以及拥有包含配偶退休后保障的雇主健康计划的受访者中。
Abstract
Health shocks are a major driver of retirement. However, the existing literature on this topic tends not to consider the marital context in which retirements occur. Using the 1992-2022 Health and Retirement Study and staggered difference-in-differences methods, we investigate how spousal health shocks impact retirement transitions. We also investigate whether these effects differ by gender and health insurance status. We consider multiple definitions of health shocks, including self-reported health declines, additional diagnoses, hospitalizations, increases in out-of-pocket medical spending, and functional deterioration. Our results suggest that the probability of retirement increases by 1.2 to 1.3 percentage points (12 to 13 percent) after a spouse’s new health condition diagnosis or hospitalization. These retirements tend to occur earlier than anticipated. They also tend to be concentrated among women and respondents with employment-based health plans that include retiree coverage for their spouse.