Countries make differing policy choices. They can serve as a scientific laboratory for drawing lessons on the policy paths to follow or to avoid and the consequences of those institutional choices on individuals at older ages. In this special issue we bring together six articles that evaluate the influence of institutions on retirement decisions, health and well-being of older adults using common data that have emerged with the international network of health and retirement studies to study key life outcomes such as health, work, and lifecycle transitions at older ages.

Mexico and the United States both face rapid population aging as well as older populations with high poverty rates. Among the most vulnerable populations of retirement age in either nation are Mexican immigrants to the United States. This work uses data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study and the Mexican Health and Aging Study to assess retirement decisions among persons born in Mexico and working in either nation as well as such decisions by non-Hispanic Whites in the United States. Social security system incentives matter for the retirement of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. but not for return-migrants in Mexico.

This paper documents the patterns and correlates of retirement in China using a nationally representative survey, the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. After documenting stark differences in retirement ages between urban and rural residents, the paper shows that China's urban residents retire earlier than workers in many Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and that rural residents continue to work until advanced ages. Differences in access to generous pensions and economic resources explain much of the urban–rural difference in retirement rates. The paper suggests that reducing disincentives created by China's Urban Employee Pension system, improving health status, providing childcare and elder care support may all facilitate longer working lives. Given spouse preferences for joint retirement, creating incentives for women to retire later may facilitate longer working lives for both men and women.

Delaying claiming of Social Security old-age benefits past the earliest eligibility age, age 62, raises the monthly benefit for a person's life. Despite arguments from both proponents and opponents of delayed claiming in academia and public discourse, little is known about whether claiming decisions lead to substantively different outcomes. We compare differences in outcomes between age-62 claimants and otherwise similar later claimants that are matched on health, employment, and financial characteristics at age 60. We find that age-62 claimers are substantially less likely to work after 62 and have persistently lower income into their 70s. Differences in assets emerged in the 70s, with early claimants having lower wealth, but we find no differences in mortality or self-reported financial hardship. The difference in wealth is driven primarily by a growth in wealth among later claimants rather than substantial decumulation by age-62 claimants.

This paper focuses on individuals over 50 and shows that considering persistence and low-income dynamics is essential for understanding poverty. We use administrative data for Canada from the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults. The paper shows that poverty for seniors is highly persistent and strongly depends on lifetime earnings. We show that beginning to receive a public pension implies a higher probability of exit from poverty. Public pensions thereby help to explain the lower overall incidence of poverty among the elderly. These results are confirmed in a dynamic probit model, which allows controlling for individuals' unobserved heterogeneity and state dependence. While public pensions do not eliminate poverty among older adults, they help to alleviate it by reducing persistence and increasing exit for those who are most at risk.