Human Capital and Retirement

This paper investigates the relation between human capital and retirement when the age of retirement is endogenous. This relation is examined in a life-cycle earnings model. An employee works full time until retirement. The worker accumulates human capital by training- on-the-job and by learning-by-doing. The human capital of an employee is subject to depreciation when knowledge of technologies becomes obsolete. After a shock in technology, the worker depreciates on his human capital. The lower human capital results in a lower life-time income, but also in a lower price of an earlier retirement.