In this paper we evaluate the impact of the oldage part-time scheme (OAPT) on the Austrian labor market which was a policy to allow flexible retirement options for the elderly with an aim to increase labor supply. According to our matching estimates, employment probability increases slightly; especially in the first two years after entrance into the programme. Furthermore, the programme seems to reduce the measured unemployment risk. However, the total number of hours worked is significantly reduced by OAPT. While the policy is meant to reduce early exit from the labor force by allowing part-time work, our analysis indicates that most workers substitute part-time work for fulltime work and thus the overall effect is rather negative.Keywords Evaluation of labor market programmes · Labor supply of the elderly · Nearest neighbor matching

Labor force participation rates of mothers in Austria and Germany are similar, however fulltime employment rates are much higher among Austrian mothers. In order to find out to what extent these differences can be attributed to differences in the tax transfer-system, we perform a comparative micro simulation exercise. After estimating structural labor supply models of both countries, we interchange two important institutional characteristics of the two countries, namely (i) the definition of the tax unit within the personal income tax and (ii) the parental leave benefit scheme. As our analysis shows, differences in mothers' employment patterns can partly be explained by the different tax systems: While Germany has a system of joint taxation with income splitting for married couples, Austria taxes everyone individually, which leads to lower marginal tax rates for secondary earners than the German system.

Public pensions, Retirement incentives, Social security wealth, H55, J22, J26,

No abstract

Wage differentials, Wage inequality, Decomposition, J31, J71,