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The role of life experience in long-term care insurance decisions

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  • Tennyson, Sharon
  • Yang, Hae Kyung

Abstract

This study uses data from a unique survey of the retirement planning behaviors of late middle-aged individuals living in New York State, to test hypotheses regarding the role of earlier life experiences on the demand for long-term care insurance. Our primary focus is on previous provision of informal long-term care, which some studies have found to be correlated with demand for long-term care insurance. We add to the literature by providing a test for causal relationships between previous care-giving and insurance demand, and by exploring the more generally the mechanisms through which previous life experiences are linked to insurance demand. Results are robust to a variety of empirical specifications and estimation methods, including consideration of current care-giving roles and endogenous selection into previous care-giving, and strongly support a causal relationship between previous long-term care-giving and demand for insurance. Our estimates also provide evidence that lifetime health trajectories and family relationships are associated with long-term care insurance demand, and suggest that both emotional and informational forces influence demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Tennyson, Sharon & Yang, Hae Kyung, 2014. "The role of life experience in long-term care insurance decisions," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 175-188.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:42:y:2014:i:c:p:175-188
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2014.04.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Boyer & Philippe De Donder & Claude Fluet & Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre-Carl Michaud, 2017. "Long-Term Care Insurance: Knowledge Barriers, Risk Perception and Adverse Selection," NBER Working Papers 23918, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. M. Martin Boyer & Franca Glenzer, 2021. "Pensions, annuities, and long-term care insurance: on the impact of risk screening," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 46(2), pages 133-174, September.
    3. M. Martin Boyer & Philippe De Donder & Claude Denys Fluet & Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre-Carl Michaud, 2018. "A Canadian Parlor Room-Type Approach to the Long-Term Care Insurance Puzzle," CIRANO Working Papers 2018s-13, CIRANO.
    4. M. Martin Boyer & Philippe De Donder & Claude Fluet & Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre-Carl Michaud, 2020. "Long-Term Care Insurance: Information Frictions and Selection," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 134-169, August.
    5. Lambregts, Timo R. & Schut, Frederik T., 2020. "Displaced, disliked and misunderstood: A systematic review of the reasons for low uptake of long-term care insurance and life annuities," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    6. Martin Eling & Omid Ghavibazoo, 2019. "Research on long-term care insurance: status quo and directions for future research," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(2), pages 303-356, April.
    7. J. Iñaki De La Peña & M. Cristina Fernández-Ramos & Asier Garayeta, 2021. "Cost-Free LTC Model Incorporated into Private Pension Schemes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-16, February.
    8. M. Martin Boyer, 2018. "La gestion et le dépistage des risques liés au vieillissement, et le rôle des régimes de retraite dans le marché de l’assurance de soins de longue durée," CIRANO Project Reports 2018rp-03, CIRANO.
    9. Martin Boyer & Franca Glenzer, 2016. "Pensions, annuities, and long-term care insurance: On the impact of risk screening," Cahiers de recherche 1603, Chaire de recherche Industrielle Alliance sur les enjeux économiques des changements démographiques.
    10. Innocenti, Stefania & Clark, Gordon L. & McGill, Sarah & Cuñado, Juncal, 2019. "The effect of past health events on intentions to purchase insurance: Evidence from 11 countries," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    11. Wang, Qun & Abiiro, Gilbert Abotisem & Yang, Jin & Li, Peng & De Allegri, Manuela, 2021. "Preferences for long-term care insurance in China: Results from a discrete choice experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Long-term care; Private long-term care insurance; Informal care-giving; Insurance purchase intention; Emotions and insurance purchase;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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