TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hurd, Michael D
AU  - Smith, James P
TI  - Anticipated and Actual Bequests
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7380
PY  - 1999
Y2  - October 1999
DO  - 10.3386/w7380
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7380
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7380.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Michael D. Hurd
RAND Corporation
1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90407
Tel: 310/451-6945
Fax: 310/451-6923
E-Mail: mhurd@rand.org

James P. Smith
RAND Corporation
1776 Main Street
P.O. Box 2138
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138
Tel: 310-451-6925
E-Mail: jsmith_1776@outlook.com
M1  - published as Michael D. Hurd, James P. Smith. "Anticipated and Actual Bequests ," in David A. Wise, editor, "Themes in the Economics of Aging" University of Chicago Press (2001)

AB  - This paper uses data on anticipated bequests from two waves of the Health and Retirement Study and the Asset and Health Dynamics of the Oldest Old (AHEAD), and on actual bequests from AHEAD. Actual bequests were measured in exit interviews given by proxy respondents for 774 AHEAD respondents who died between waves 1 and 2.  Because the exit interview is representative of the elderly population, the distribution of estate values is quite different from that obtained from estate records, which represent just a wealthy subset of the population.   Anticipated bequests were measured by the subjective probability of leaving bequests. Between waves 1 and 2, increases in bequest probabilities were associated with increases in the subjective probability of surviving, increments in household wealth, and widowing while out-of-pocket medical expenses reduced the likelihood of a bequest.  By comparing bequest probabilities with baseline wealth we were able to test a main prediction of the life-cycle model, that individuals will dissave at advanced old-age.  The AHEAD respondents anticipate substantial dissaving before they die.
ER  -