Subjective Mortality Risk and Bequests

30 Pages Posted: 5 Oct 2004 Last revised: 26 Jun 2022

See all articles by Li Gan

Li Gan

Texas A&M University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Guan Gong

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics

Michael D. Hurd

RAND Corporation; State University of New York at Stony Brook - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Daniel L. McFadden

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: September 2004

Abstract

This paper investigates whether subjective expectations about future mortality affect consumption and bequests motives. We estimate a dynamic life-cycle model based on subjective survival rates and wealth from the panel dataset Asset and Health Dynamics among Oldest Old. We find that bequest motives are small on average, which indicates that most bequests are involuntary or accidental. Moreover, parameter estimates using subjective mortality risk perform better in predicting out-of-sample wealth levels than estimates using life table mortality risks, suggesting that decisions about consumption and saving are influenced more strongly by individual-level beliefs about mortality risk than by group level mortality risk.

Suggested Citation

Gan, Li and Gong, Guan and Hurd, Michael D. and McFadden, Daniel L., Subjective Mortality Risk and Bequests (September 2004). NBER Working Paper No. w10789, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=595188

Li Gan (Contact Author)

Texas A&M University - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Guan Gong

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics ( email )

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Michael D. Hurd

RAND Corporation ( email )

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State University of New York at Stony Brook - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics ( email )

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Daniel L. McFadden

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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