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Demand for Home Pension and Reverse Mortgage: An Information Provision Survey Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Duk Gyoo Kim

    (Yonsei University)

  • In Do Hwang

    (Bank of Korea)

Abstract

Elderly poverty remains a critical issue in South Korea, despite widespread homeownership among older adults. Although the home pension program allows retirees to unlock housing wealth, uptake remains below 2% as of 2024. Using a large-scale survey of adults aged 55-79, we conduct an information provision experiment to assess how policy reforms and belief corrections affect demand. We find that enrollment intention rises by 6 percentage points when monthly pension payments are adjusted with house price changes, and by 5 percentage points when bequest conditions are made more flexible. Notably, merely informing that the fixed monthly payments-often perceived as disadvantageous during housing price increases-do not result in a loss when house prices rise because the amount bequeathed to their children increases accordingly, led to a 7%p increase in enrollment intention. Our results suggest that addressing informational barriers may be as effective as structural reforms in increasing program uptake.

Suggested Citation

  • Duk Gyoo Kim & In Do Hwang, 2025. "Demand for Home Pension and Reverse Mortgage: An Information Provision Survey Experiment," Working papers 2025rwp-273, Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:yon:wpaper:2025rwp-273
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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