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...

We introduce a tractable model of post-retirement saving behavior in which households have a precautionary motive arising from uninsured health status risks. The model distinguishes between annuitized and non-annuitized wealth, emphasizes the importance of asset composition in determining...

Two of the most basic frameworks which economists use for analyzing national saving and private wealth accumulation are the life-cycle model (e.g., Modigliani [1986]) and the so-called altruistic or dynastic model (e.g., Barro [1974] and Becker [1974]). In the first, households care about their...

We introduce a tractable model of post-retirement saving behavior in which households have a precautionary motive arising from uninsured health status risks. The model distinguishes between annuitized and non-annuitized wealth, emphasizes the importance of asset composition in determining...

Over the last decade or so, a substantial effort has gone into the design of a series of methodological investigations aimed at enhancing the quality of survey data on income and wealth. These investigations have largely been conducted at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan,...

In the past decade, researchers have made substantial improvements to survey questions that allow them to obtain more accurate information from survey respondents about income and wealth. However, changing survey questions - even for the better - can create problems. For example, if we ask a...