An examination of discrimination and retirement and their common determinants within the framework of a unified theory of the optimal ages of hiring and retirement. Aspects of labour economics and phenomena such as mandatory/early retirement policies, pensions and discrimination are discussed.

This text looks at the issues of discriminatiion and retirement, the perception of which is undergoing fundamental changes at the present time. Despite questions of their legitimacy, there is no corresponding decrease in their prevalence and various phenomena are explained, These include; discrimination by gender and in hiring older workers, mandatory retirement policies of firms, vesting and pensions, and early retirement policies. Based on a unifying human capital model of general firm specific skills, and of casual and career jobs and workers, it extends the work of Becker and Okun by considering a framework in which the firm's hiring and retirement policies take into account the replacement of existing workers on any given job by other - male or female, another race or younger - workers. The common fundamental determinants of discrimination and retirement are examined within a unified theory of the optimal ages of hiring and retirement.

Characteristics and returns to general and specific skills
optimal ages of hiring and retirement
the firms's perspective
wage and occupational differentiation by sex
discrimination against hiring older workers
optimal retirement policies
the firm's choices
the rental value of a job and jobs as dam sites
retirement - the worker's choice
retirement and private pension plans
summary and conclusions.