This paper aims at detecting whether Italian households exhibit excess sensitivity in their consumption with regard to “severance pay”, a sizable, expected lump sum that workers receive at either retirement or whenever they leave their job for whatever reason. One of the implications of the...

In this work we revisit the retirement consumption puzzle using Italian panel data. As emphasised in the literature, the observed consumption drop might be due to unexpected wealth shocks at retirement which modify optimal consumption plans. Using an Euler equation approach, we test the impact...

In this work we revisit the retirement consumption puzzle using Italian panel data. As emphasized in the literature, the observed consumption drop might be due to unexpected wealth shocks at retirement, which modify optimal consumption plans. Using an Euler equation approach, we test the impact...

We use a Cox-type model to investigate the role of the family as an informal market: parents enjoy their children’s proximity (a proxy for the informal care they can receive from their kids) and “reward” them with an anticipated wealth transfer. Children appreciate the reward, particularly...

In this paper we study the effect on Italian households’ saving behaviour of a change in real estate wealth using the Bank of Italy’s Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) dataset. We relate annual household saving to capital gains in housing, controlling for other characteristics...

We investigate the effect of retirement on cognitive functioning using the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The availability of a panel dataset allows to use a fixed effect estimator which is crucial to estimate the effect of individual transitions into retirement on...

In this paper we propose a method to characterize the time series properties of individual consumption, income and interest rates using micro data, as studies in labour economics have characterized the time series properties of hours and earnings. Our approach, however, does not remove aggregate...

We analyse the distribution of pension benefits induced by pension systems moving from a defined benefit formula to a notional defined contribution one. We focus on the reforms that took place in Italy between 1992 and 2004, differently affecting various cohorts of workers. We develop a...