Unequal Bequests

47 Pages Posted: 2 Nov 2015 Last revised: 3 Jul 2023

See all articles by Marco Francesconi

Marco Francesconi

University of Essex; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Robert A. Pollak

Washington University in St. Louis - John M. Olin Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Domenico Tabasso

IZA (Institute for the Study of Labour); University of Essex - Department of Economics; Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti

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Date Written: October 2015

Abstract

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we make two contributions to the literature on end-of-life transfers. First, we show that unequal bequests are much more prevalent than generally recognized, with more than one-third of parents with wills planning to divide their estates unequally among their children. Plans for unequal division are particularly concentrated in complex families, i.e., families with stepchildren and families with genetic children with whom parents have limited or no contact. Second, we find that many older Americans have no wills. Although the probability of having a will increases with age, 30 percent of individuals aged 70 plus are without a will and, of the people who died between 1995 and 2012, nearly 40 percent died intestate.

Suggested Citation

Francesconi, Marco and Pollak, Robert A. and Tabasso, Domenico and Tabasso, Domenico, Unequal Bequests (October 2015). NBER Working Paper No. w21692, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2684996

Marco Francesconi (Contact Author)

University of Essex ( email )

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Robert A. Pollak

Washington University in St. Louis - John M. Olin Business School ( email )

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Domenico Tabasso

University of Essex - Department of Economics ( email )

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United Kingdom

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Germany

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