The VfS committee awarded the prize to Seibold for his study on “Reference Points for Retirement Behavior: Evidence from German Pension Discontinuities“, which was published in the American Economic Review. In his study, Seibold, Assistant Professor of Public Economics at the University of Mannheim, analyzed which factors influence the decision to retire and uses data of the statutory pension insurance scheme in Germany. The results show that employees retire at a statutory retirement age at a significantly higher rate than it would be expected from the financial incentives associated with this retirement age alone. The behavioral model developed by Seibold shows that adjusting the statutory pension age in pension reforms is an effective measure to influence retirement decisions.
The prize of the Schmölders foundation is endowed with 3,000 euros. Each year, a selection panel awards the prize for a journal-published paper. The Verein für Socialpolitik (German Economic Association) is the largest association of economists in the German-speaking area.