English couple households born in the 1940s. Here, 'optimal' wealth holdings are those that allow households to enjoy the same … calculate this level of wealth, and compare that with how much wealth households are observed to hold. We find that the majority … of households hold more wealth than our model suggests is optimal and that this would still be true even if housing …

from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, an optimal level of wealth is calculated for each household. This is … compared to the levels of wealth observed in the data. Our results show that, for those born in the 1940s, the vast majority of … households have wealth levels far greater than necessary to maintain their living standards into and through retirement. …

bequeathed wealth will be due to a bequest motive …

This chapter is concerned with the distribution of personal wealth, which usually refers to the material assets that … on wealth distribution for a number of countries. This confirms the well known fact that wealth is more unequally … distributed than income, and points to a long term downward trend in wealth inequality over most of the twentieth century. We also …

In this paper, we analyze the wealth accumulation and saving behavior of the retired elderly in Italy using micro data … from the "Survey of Italian Households' Income and Wealth," a panel survey of households conducted every two years by the … Bank of Italy. We find that, on average, the retired elderly in Italy are decumulating their wealth (dissaving) but that …

This paper analyzes the determinants of the wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Japan using unique … bequest motives in explaining the lower than expected rates of wealth decumulation of the retired elderly. Taken together, our … expected wealth decumulation rate of the retired elderly, at least in the case of Japan, even though both precautionary saving …