Francesconi, Marco and Pollak, Robert A and Tabasso, Domenico (2023) Unequal bequests. European Economic Review, 157. p. 104513. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104513
Francesconi, Marco and Pollak, Robert A and Tabasso, Domenico (2023) Unequal bequests. European Economic Review, 157. p. 104513. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104513
Francesconi, Marco and Pollak, Robert A and Tabasso, Domenico (2023) Unequal bequests. European Economic Review, 157. p. 104513. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104513
Abstract
Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we make two contributions to the literature on end-of-life transfers. First, we show that unequal bequests are much more prevalent than generally recognized, with more than one-third of parents with wills planning to divide their estates unequally among their children. Plans for unequal division are particularly concentrated in “weak relationships”, i.e., families with stepchildren and families with genetic children with whom parents have limited or no contact. Second, we find that many older Americans have no wills. Although the probability of having a will increases with age, 30 percent of individuals aged 70 plus are without a will and, of the HRS respondents who died between 1995 and 2012, nearly 40 percent died intestate.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Intergenerational transfers; Altruism; Exchange; Evolutionary motives; Family structure |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 10 Jul 2023 10:21 |
Last Modified: | 16 May 2024 16:57 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/35944 |
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