TY  - BOOK
AU  - Bernheim,B.Douglas
ED  - National Bureau of Economic Research.
TI  - How Strong are Bequest Motives?  Evidence Based on Estimates of the     Demand for Life Insurance and Annuities
T2  - NBER working paper series
PY  - 1989///
CY  - Cambridge, Mass.
PB  - National Bureau of Economic Research
N1  - April 1989; Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers
N2  - This paper presents new empirical evidence in support of the view that a significant fraction of total saving is motivated solely by the desire to leave bequests. Specifically, I find that Social Security annuity benefits significantly raise life insurance holdings and depress private annuity holdings among elderly individuals. These patterns indicate that the typical household would choose to maintain a positive fraction of its resources in bequeathable forms, even if insurance markets were perfect. Evidence on the relationship between insurance purchases and total resources reinforces this conclusion
UR  - https://www.nber.org/papers/w2942
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w2942
ER  -