wealth accumulation is to finance future consumption, either their own or that of heirs. The paper concludes that the … simplest model that explains the relevant facts is one in which either consumers regard the accumulation of wealth as an end in … itself, or unspent wealth yields a flow of services (such as power or social status) which have the same practical effect on …

This paper analyzes retirement saving and portfolio choice in the United States, Italy, and the Netherlands. While … institutional differences for wealth accumulation and portfolio composition. Examples of implications are that the ratio of net … worth and gross wealth should be highest in Italy, that Dutch households should hold the lowest wealth levels at retirement …

We study optimal labor and savings distortions in a lifecycle model with idiosyncratic shocks. We show a tight …-based expressions for the dynamic optimal distortions. We derive a generalization of a savings distortion for non-separable preferences …

Why do similar households end up with very different levels of wealth? We show that differences in the attitudes and … spend more time developing financial plans, and that this shift in planning effort is associated with increased wealth. The … why it is associated with wealth accumulation. Part of the answer lies in the very strong relationship we uncover between …

-quarter of aggregate wealth, suggesting a larger role for life-cycle savings than some previous estimates. Despite the smaller … important effect on the savings decisions of recipients. Estimates suggest that past receipts of transfer wealth reduce life …This paper provides new evidence on the decomposition of aggregate household wealth into life-cycle and transfer wealth …