This paper formulates an overlapping generations model with both life-cycle saving and altruistic bequests. For a given distribution of earning abilities, the model generates a stationary steady-state capital-to-labor ratio for the economy as a whole and a stationary distribution of net worth...

The life-cycle model of household behavior forms the basis for most economic analysis of Social Security, private pensions, and retirement. This project seeks to extend the usefulness of the life-cycle model by considering the role of middle-class inheritances and bequests. We use HRS data....

This paper reviews four well known theoretical models of private bequest behavior, notes their differing implications for public policy, and discusses a way of empirically discriminating among them. Then it implements the test with micro data from Sweden (LLS) and the U.S. (PSID). The so-called...