Youth Subjective Life Expectancy and Early Labor Market Choices.

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.