This is a proposal to hold a conference on contemporary retirement at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, in Fall 1986. Although much work has already been done on retirement, a conference of this sort would perform two functions. First, it would be interdisciplinary, bringing together researchers from economics, sociology, demography, government as well as business leaders. The sharing of information that would occur can save much wasted effort, duplicating the results of other fields. Second, it would focus on important, but still unaddressed questions. Some examples are the interaction between the age-productivity relationship and retirement, the effect of a changing number of retirees on the economy, international comparisons of retirement behavior, and the social effects and desirability of changing retirement patterns. The conference may be held over two days, with approximately twelve papers and fifty participants. Authors and participants will be chosen according to background (with an aim toward diversity) and/or relevance of the proposed topic.
