It's known as ''quit and die'' - the belief that men who retire
early die sooner. And it is said to be backed by evidence. In
one often-cited but rarely seen study the Shell Corporation is
said to have found employees who retired at 55 were nearly twice
as likely to die in the next decade as those who kept working.
But evidence of a solid link has been hard to find, in part
because ill-health is one of the reasons people retire early.
Now Australia's Centre of Excellence in Population Aging
Research believes it has cracked the puzzle.  In new research
being released on Tuesday it says there is no such effect. Men
who retire early are no more likely to die at any age than those
who stay working.  The lead Australian author John Piggott had
to get around what he called ''confounding influences''.  ''Some
people retire early because they are ill. Six months later they
die. But they didn't die because they retired early,'' he says.
''Some people retire early because their firm has shut down.
They are demoralis