A comparison of early retirement pensions in the United States and Russia: the pensions of musicians.

Early retirement pensions for particular occupations free national policy to establish the social security early retirement age at a later age that is more appropriate for the population as a whole. This paper focuses on early retirement pensions in the United States and the Russian Federation. While comparing early retirement pensions generally, the paper provides a more detailed discussion of the pensions for musicians. While this is an unconventional group to choose for the study of pensions, study of their pensions yields insights into the principles underlying retirement age policy in the two countries.