TY - RPRT T1 - Housing Wealth, Bequests, and the Elderly Y1 - 2019 A1 - Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley A1 - C. Lockwood Reynolds KW - Home equity KW - intended bequests KW - pre-cautionary savings KW - Wealth Shocks AB - There has been little consensus on why individuals do not spend down their wealth by death. Competing theories debate whether assets are bequeathed intentionally or are unplanned. Combining data on expectations of future bequests in the Health and Retirement Study with changes in housing wealth during the housing boom, we aim to estimate whether a plausibly exogenous wealth shock changes expected bequests. We find such wealth shocks lead to an increase in the expected likelihood of leaving a large bequest. However, we do not find complete pass through of the wealth increase, and find larger responses for individuals with lower baseline wealth, health and risk aversion. Combined with evidence of other responses, the results suggest roles for both planned and pre-cautionary savings bequest motivations. JF - AEA Papers and Proceedings PB - American Economic Association CY - Pittsburgh, PA ER -