Long-Term-Care Utility and Late-in-Life Saving

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ameriks, John; Briggs, Joseph; Caplin, Andrew; Shapiro, Matthew D.; Tonetti, Christopher
• 署名单位: The Vanguard Group, Inc.; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve System Board of Governors; New York University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Stanford University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/706686
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 2375-2451
• 关键词: health; insurance; retirement; CHOICE; WEALTH; Heterogeneity; medicaid; bequests; expenses; income

摘要

Older wealth holders spend down assets much more slowly than predicted by classic life-cycle models. This paper introduces health-dependent utility into a model with incomplete markets in which preferences for bequests, expenditures when in need of long-term care, and ordinary consumption combine with health and longevity uncertainty to explain saving behavior. To sharply identify motives, it develops strategic survey questions (SSQs) that elicit stated preferences. The model is estimated using these SSQs and wealth data from the Vanguard Research Initiative. The desire to self-insure against long-term-care risk explains a substantial fraction of the wealth holding of many older Americans.