Empirical as well as experimental evidence strongly suggests that bidders in common value auctions typically do not conform to the requirements of perfect rationality. Eyster and Rabin (2005) develop a theory and an equilibrium concept - x-cursed equilibrium - for bounded rational bidding in...

Empirical studies of intergenerational transfers usually find that bequests are equally divided among heirs while inter vivos gifts tend to be compensatory. Using the 1992 and 1994 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, we find that only 4% of parents who give, divide their gifts equally...

We study the motives behind parents’ transfers to their children, and the relationship between tangible transfers and educational investments. Another issue is the channels parents choose for tangible transfers. Do they use bequests and inter vivos gifts as substitutes or complements? We use a...

In this paper we analyze how the optimal consumption, investment and life insur- ance rules are modified by the introduction of a class of time-inconsistent preferences. In particular, we account for the fact that an agents preferences evolve along the planning horizon according to her...

This paper presents a closed form consumption function for an individual when he derives utility from both his current and previous consumption and from the consumption of his relevant others. I show that the traditional definition of an individual's marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is too...

This paper uses a overlapping generation general equilibrium model to study a reform of the social security system, going from an unfunded to a funded system. We also analyze the effects of this reform on the incentives of young generations to acquire skills. the main objective is to evaluate...

This paper analyzes the quantitative role of idiosyncratic uncertainty in an economy in which rational agents vote on hypothetical social security reforms. We construct an Overlapping Generations economy in which individuals face idiosuncratic risk with respect to their labor productivity and...

We examine the effect of addictive behavior on a socially optimal environmental tax. If utility in part depends on past consumption and individuals are time-consistent, the socially optimal environmental tax is shown to be equal to the conventional Pigovian tax. In a second-best world where the...

To what extent do people avoid taxes on intra-family transfers (bequests and gifts), and how would integration (unification) of the different transfers taxes affect tax avoidance? These issues are important for families and their welfare, as well as for governments and their possibilities of...

This paper investigates the diversification demand of an agent, who is faced with the alternative to swap aggregate labour-income risk for equity-exposure, through her individual account in a mandatory-pension scheme. The framework for the analysis is a life-cycle model of a...