Re-examining female labor supply responses to the 1994 Australian pension reform

Abstract Many governments are aiming to extend working lives by raising the age at which people can claim retirement pensions. This makes it vital understand how these policies affect decisions. In this paper, I revisit labor supply effects of a major Australian reform that increased women’s pension from 60 65. Atalay and Barrett (2015) studied using repeated household surveys differences-in-differences design in male cohorts form comparison group. They estimate female force participation 12 percentage points. Using earlier data, show parallel-trends assumption did not hold before because strong female-specific trend rates across relevant cohorts. Accounting for trend, estimated effect on falls two-thirds becomes statistically insignificant conventional levels. highlights importance carefully assessing controlling trends when evaluating reforms, typically phased