If annuities such as Social Security are not chosen freely, the consumption path typically cannot be determined independently of the path of annuities. This constraint reduces the value of the annuity from the point of view of the annuitant. I measure the value of the annuity by the marginal...

In the experimental module of the AHEAD 1995 data, the sample is randomly split into respondents who get an open-ended question on the amount of total family consumption - with follow-up unfolding brackets (of the form: is consumption $X or more?) for those who answer don t know or refuse - and...

Item non-response in household survey data on economic variables such as income, assets or consumption is a well-known problem.Follow-up unfolding bracket questions have been used as a tool to collect partial information on respondents that do not answer an open-ended question.It is also known,...

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Asset and Health Dynamics Study (AHEAD) are large nationally representative panel surveys of individuals aged 51-61 and 70 or over respectively at baseline and their spouses. The objective of this paper is to find evidence about anchoring and...

The goal of this paper is to analyze a model to explain consumption by couples. It is an extension fo the model for singles by Yaari (1195), and therefore emphasizes the role of mortality risk. It also allows for what I call a "true" bequest motive, bequeathing by a couple to the next...