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Why Do Households Save and Work?

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Abstract

This paper quantifies why households save and work using a life-cycle model that incorporates wage risk, endogenous labor supply of both spouses, marital transitions, health, medical expenses, mortality and bequest motives at the death of the first and last household member. We estimate it using PSID and HRS data and conduct counterfactuals to assess the quantitative role of individual mechanisms. Precautionary saving against wage risk is smaller than in models that abstract from labor supply and within-household insurance. Bequest motives and medical expenses remain important drivers of wealth, while marriage and divorce generate large but offsetting effects across household types.

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  • Margherita Borella & Mariacristina De Nardi & Johanna P. Torres Chain & Fang Yang, 2025. "Why Do Households Save and Work?," Working Papers 2526, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, revised 09 Feb 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:feddwp:101316
    DOI: 10.24149/wp2526r1
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    1. Liebman, Jeffrey B. & Luttmer, Erzo F.P. & Seif, David G., 2009. "Labor supply responses to marginal Social Security benefits: Evidence from discontinuities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1208-1223, December.
    2. Karen A. Kopecky & Tatyana Koreshkova, 2014. "The Impact of Medical and Nursing Home Expenses on Savings," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 29-72, July.
    3. Roland Benabou, 2002. "Tax and Education Policy in a Heterogeneous-Agent Economy: What Levels of Redistribution Maximize Growth and Efficiency?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(2), pages 481-517, March.
    4. Mariacristina De Nardi & Eric French & John Bailey Jones & Rory McGee, 2025. "Why Do Couples and Singles Save during Retirement? Household Heterogeneity and Its Aggregate Implications," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 133(3), pages 750-792.
    5. Orazio Attanasio & Peter Levell & Hamish Low & Virginia Sánchez‐Marcos, 2018. "Aggregating Elasticities: Intensive and Extensive Margins of Women's Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(6), pages 2049-2082, November.
    6. Leslie A. Whittington & James Alm, 1997. "'Til Death or Taxes Do Us Part: The Effect of Income Taxation on Divorce," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(2), pages 388-412.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pashchenko, Svetlana & Porapakkarm, Ponpoje, 2020. "Saving Motives over the Life-Cycle," MPRA Paper 100208, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    JEL classification:

    • E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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