Empirical Investigation of Dissaving Near the End of Life

Chapter 1 estimates how much saving is solely precautionary by looking at how people behave when they are fairly certain they are going to die soon. Because uncertainties about life-events are almost negligible for these people, bequest is virtually the only motive they have for saving. I also investigate the effects of Medicaid. Data are taken from the Asset and Health Dynamics Survey (AHEAD). Chapter 2 tries to examine the effect of many economic, demographic, and health reasons on various housing decisions. The multinomial logit analysis using the Asset and Health Dynamics Survey (AHEAD) shows that the elderly do react to traditional economic incentives unlike in the previous studies. I also find that the Medicaid rule that house is exempt from asset limits has a significant effect on housing decisions. In Chapter 3, I describe the inheritance pattern of those who died with wills. The descriptive analysis shows that first, decedents left a bigger portion of their estates to their spouses than stipulated in the intestate succession statutes. Second, although equal estate distribution among children is a general rule, the wealthiest group has the strongest distributive preferences for it. The 1998 and 2000 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Exit data sets and the 1995 Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old Study (AHEAD) are used.

Inheritance

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