Increasing the official retirement age to 67. An analysis for the Netherlands

This thesis, tries to explain the necessity of a higher official retirement age in the Netherlands. Demographic developments will have large affects on the sustainability of the Dutch governmental expenses in the future. Increasing the official retirement age is a widely discussed political issue in the Netherlands, which should cut governmental expenses and increase labour participation of the elderly. To see how effective this policy will be, I start explaining how the Dutch pension system works and analyzing the effects of the demographic developments. After this, a comparison between seven OECD countries will be made, which shows that the seriousness of the demographic developments differs per country and that the different pension systems affect workers retirement behaviour. In the last two sections, the effects of an increased official retirement and other possible policies to increase the sustainability of public expenditures will be analysed. An increased official retirement age on its own will not be enough to keep governmental expenses sustainable in the future, but it is a start. Additional policies to increase the sustainability in the future will be inevitable.