There are two stylised facts, namely weak demand for life-annuities and flat age-wealth profile that contradict the life-cycle hypothesis. In this paper we design a theoretical framework, which combines plausible arguments, which have been put forward in the literature to reconcile theory with...

Taxpayers are considerably interested in tax planning for intergenerational transfers (inter vivos gifts and bequests) that minimize the payment of taxes. Nordblom and Ohlsson (2006) demonstrated that (1) altruistic parents avoid tax payment by changing the timing of transfers when inter vivos...

In this paper we study the effects of inheritances on labor and capital income of heirs. We use unique register based Swedish panel data to estimate both short run and medium run responses. The few existing studies have mainly focused on short run responses, using data from the U.S. Models of...

We estimate the effect of estate taxation on bequests exploiting a sequence of Italian reforms that culminated with the reduction of estate taxes in 1999 and their abolishment in 2001. To perform our exercise, we use the 1993-2006 Survey of Household Income and Wealth, which has data on real...

Whole life insurance plays an important role in household saving. However, empirical evidence on its determinants is scarce. This paper studies two natural experiments to identify the effects of tax incentives and bequest motives on life-insurance demand. An unanticipated tax reform in 2000...

We study how the introduction of consumption externalities affects the efficiency of the dynamic equilibrium in an economy displaying dynastic altruism. When the bequest motive is inoperative consumption externalities affect the intertemporal margin between young and old consumption and thus...

We analyze how the presence of endogenous preferences affects the altruistic bequest motive from parents to children. We will show that the existence of habits raises the threshold value of the intergenerational discount factor above which altruistic bequests are positive, while aspiration...

The wealth of male decedents using census-linked probate records from 1892 and 1902 is examined for evidence on saving motives. This data presents an opportunity to examine wealth holding and saving motives in an environment devoid of many of the features that can affect modern retirement,...

We examine how much of an extra dollar of parental lifetime resources will ultimately be passed on to adult children in the form of inter vivos transfers and bequests. We infer bequests from the stock of wealth late in life. We use mortality rates and age specific estimates of the response of...