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This dissertation evaluates policies in two strands of social policy: education and pension politics. Both play a major role in state budgets and in 2013 public spending in these sectors amounted to 8.0% and 8.2% of GDP in OECD countries. More precisely, this dissertation focuses on the analysis of underlying mechanisms in the impact of financial student aid (Chapter one) and partial retirement (Chapters two and three) on labor market outcomes using a dynamic structural life-cycle approach. Chapter 1 investigates time- inconsistent preferences in educational decision making and corresponding policies using a structural dynamic choice model. For this purpose it augments a dynamic structural model by hyperbolic discounting, a behavioral bias that exhibits time-inconsistent preferences. Estimates of this model are compared to the same model but with classic exponential discounting. The estimation is based on a sample of West German students from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). In line with Chan (2013), Fang and Wang (2015), and Haan et al. (2017) identification is achieved not only on the basis of functional form assumptions but also by imposing exclusion restrictions that affect educational choices indirectly through their impact on the transition probabilities of relevant state variables and reveal information on the discounting behavior. Birth cohort groups as well as regions that were affected by different educational policy reforms are used as exclusion restrictions. Their relevance on the time invested for the attainment of educational degrees is shown. Agents are assumed to face two kinds of uncertainty: (1) there is uncertainty over whether an additional year invested into education will, in fact, be successful and lead to a degree (affected by the policy reforms); and (2) there is uncertainty over the returns to the degree earned when exiting education. The estimation of the structural parameters of the choice model indicates time-inconsistent behavior and provides quantitative evidence for its ...

The demographic change is posing many challenges for government budgets. In the face of a shrinking work force, keeping the number of workers and thus pension contributors at the highest possible level is a key economic policy goal. This could be achieved if people retire from the work force later in life. Partial retirement, the option to work part-time while drawing a pension before reaching the normal retirement age, could create the necessary conditions for reaching this goal. The impact of partial retirement on employment will be simulated below. The results show that unrestricted access to partial retirement can lead to an increase in employment volume and generate positive fiscal effects. The effects on employment are especially positive when the entry age for partial retirement coincides with the early retirement age of 63. Flexible retirement, which came into effect in 2017, allows people to receive a partial pension payout before the normal retirement age while still working. However, the computation behind the amount of pension payouts during flexible retirement is very complex. In addition, the limit to pension payouts in flexible retirement could be considered too strict. This negatively affects the attractiveness of the flexible retirement option. Furthermore, work hours can only be reduced in the case of flexible retirement if the employer agrees. If an evaluation of flexible retirement shows that few people make use of it, policymakers would have to simplify the rules regarding additional income and consider a statutory right to partial retirement before the normal retirement age, with possible exceptions for small businesses.

Angesichts der schrumpfenden Erwerbsbevölkerung ist es ein zentrales wirtschaftspolitisches Ziel, die Zahl der Beschäftigten und damit der Beitragszahlenden auf möglichst hohem Niveau zu halten. Dies könnte erreicht werden, wenn Menschen später aus ihrem Erwerbsleben ausscheiden. Eine Teilzeitrente, also die Möglichkeit, vor der Regelaltersgrenze Teilzeitbeschäftigung und Rentenbezug zu kombinieren, könnte die nötigen Voraussetzungen dafür schaffen. Welche Folgen eine Teilzeitrente auf die Beschäftigung hat, wird im Folgenden simuliert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein uneingeschränkter Zugang zu einer Teilzeitrente zu einem erhöhten Beschäftigungsvolumen und zu positiven fiskalischen Effekten führen kann. Die Beschäftigungseffekte fallen insbesondere dann positiv aus, wenn das Eintrittsalter zur Teilzeitrente mit dem Frühverrentungsalter von 63 Jahren zusammenfällt. Die 2017 in Kraft getretene Flexirente ermöglicht wie die simulierte Teilzeitrente einen Teilrentenbezug bei gleichzeitiger Erwerbstätigkeit vor der Regelaltersgrenze. Allerdings könnte die Komplexität sowie die Höhe der Anrechnungsrate des Hinzuverdienstes die Attraktivität der Flexirente reduzieren. Hinzu kommt, dass die Reduzierung der Arbeitszeit für eine Flexirente nur nach Zustimmung von der Arbeitgeberseite erfolgen kann. Wenn sich bei einer Evaluation der Flexirente zeigt, dass nur wenige Menschen von ihr Gebrauch machen, müsste die Politik die Hinzuverdienstregelungen vereinfachen und über ein gesetzlich verankertes Recht auf Teilzeitrenten vor der Regelaltersgrenze - mit möglichen Ausnahmen insbesondere für kleine Unternehmen - nachdenken.