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The Mismatch Between Life Insurance Holdings and Financial Vulnerabilities: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances

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Author Info
B. Douglas Bernheim
Katherine Grace Carman
Jagadeesh Gokhale
Laurence J. Kotlikoff

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Abstract

Using the 1995 Survey of Consumer Finances and an elaborate life-cycle model, we quantify the potential financial impact of each individual's death on his or her survivors, and we measure the degree to which life insurance moderates these consequences. Life insurance is essentially uncorrelated with financial vulnerability at every stage of the life cycle. As a result, the impact of insurance among at-risk households is modest, and substantial uninsured vulnerabilities are widespread, particularly among younger couples. Roughly two-thirds of poverty among surviving women and more than one-third of poverty among surviving men results from a failure to insure survivors against an undiminished living standard. We also identify a systematic gender bias: for any given level of financial vulnerability, couples provide significantly more protection for wives than for husbands.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 8544.

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Date of creation: Oct 2001
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8544

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Auerbach, Alan J. & Kotlikoff, Laurence J., 1991. "The adequacy of life insurance purchases," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 215-241, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Olivia S. Mitchell et al., 1999. "New Evidence on the Money's Worth of Individual Annuities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1299-1318, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Olivia S. Mitchell & James F. Moore, . "Retirement Wealth Accumulation and Decumulation: New Developments and Outstanding Opportunities," Pension Research Council Working Papers 97-8, Wharton School Pension Research Council, University of Pennsylvania.
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  4. Alan J. Auerbach & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1987. "Life Insurance of the Elderly: Adequacy and Determinants," NBER Working Papers 1737, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Alan J. Auerbach & Laurence Kotlikoff, 1991. "Life Insurance Inadequacy - Evidence From a Sample of Older Widows," NBER Working Papers 3765, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Kotlikoff, Laurence J & Spivak, Avia, 1981. "The Family as an Incomplete Annuities Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 372-91, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Bernheim, B. Douglas, 1987. "The economic effects of social security : Toward a reconciliation of theory and measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 273-304, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. James F. Moore & Olivia S. Mitchell, 1997. "Projected Retirement Wealth and Savings Adequacy in the Health and Retirement Study," NBER Working Papers 6240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Ringen, Stein, 1991. "Households, Standard of Living, and Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(1), pages 1-13, March.
  10. B. Douglas Bernheim & Lorenzo Forni & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2001. "The mismatch between life insurance holdings and financial vulnerabilities: evidence from the Health and Retirement Survey," Working Paper 0109, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
  11. Michael D. Hurd & David A. Wise, 1989. "The Wealth and Poverty of Widows: Assets Before and After the Husband's Death," NBER Working Papers 2325, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Nelson, Julie A, 1992. "Methods of Estimating Household Equivalence Scales: An Empirical Investigation," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(3), pages 295-310, September.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. B. Douglas Bernheim & Solange Berstein, 2002. "Saving and Life Insurance Holdings at Boston University – A Unique Case Study," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 161, Central Bank of Chile. [Downloadable!]
  2. Louis Kaplow, 2003. "The Value of a Statistical Life and the Coefficient of Relative Risk Aversion," NBER Working Papers 9852, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Joel Slemrod, 2003. "Thanatology and Economics: The Behavioral Economics of Death," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 371-375, May. [Downloadable!]
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