I’ve Got You Covered: The Role of Spousal Information Sharing in Applying for Social Security Pensions in Rural Brazil

Abstract

In this paper, we assess the mechanism of spousal information sharing about retirement benefits as a key factor determining access to social security among married Brazilian couples residing in rural areas. Employing a regression discontinuity design, we unveil a significant increase in the probability of an individual’s access to an age-related retirement benefit as a result of his/her partner gaining access to it, even in cases where the individual was previously already entitled to the benefit. We also show that the effect is stronger among low educated couples and that the hypothesis of retirement spillovers cannot account for this phenomenon.