Youth Subjective Life Expectancy and Early Labor Market Choices
2026-08-19
Highlights Survival beliefs elicited at ages 18–26 predict later pension contributions. A 1-SD-higher life expectancy is linked to 5% more pension wealth 15 years later. Job formality, not labor force participation, drives most of the pension gap. This SLE–pension link grows over the life cycle, from 2.5–5% at ages 18–26 to 9–11% at ages 48–52.