Four essays on retirement, labor supply, and tax evasion

This thesis comprises four chapters that apply quasi-experimental methods and Swedish administrative data to examine two major societal shifts: population aging and digitalization. The first chapter analyzes a 2020 reform that raised the early pension claiming age from 61 to 62. Using a Difference-in-Differences approach, it finds delayed claiming of public and occupational pensions, increased employment, and higher reliance on sickness and unemployment benefits. These effects are concentrated among low-income individuals, suggesting the reform, while intended to promote longer working lives and prevent old-age poverty, placed additional strain on those least able to postpone retirement. The second chapter evaluates a partial retirement scheme introduced in 2003 for central government employees aged 61–64. Using a Difference-in-Difference-in-Differences design, it finds a 6.5% decline in earnings among eligible individuals. This finding implies that although partial retirement may extend working lives, overly generous terms may reduce the overall labor supply by encouraging a shift from full-time working to part-time working. The third chapter investigates whether parental retirement affects adult children’s labor supply, using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design based on the normal retirement age of 65. The study finds no statistically significant effect and no evidence of financial or caregiving spillovers, consistent with Sweden’s strong public childcare system, which limits reliance on grandparental care. The final chapter examines the impact of a reform that required businesses to register sale transactions through certified electronic cash registers (ECRs) on firms’ reported revenue. A staggered Difference-in-Differences analysis finds a short-term 2.7–4.3% increase in reported revenue that fades within months, suggesting firms adapted to continue under-reporting. The findings underscore the limits of digital enforcement and the need for complementary measures to improve tax compliance.