| Abstract: |
Rich people, women, and healthy people live longer. We document that this
heterogeneity in life expectancy is large. We use an estimated structural
model to assess the impact of life expectancy variation on the elderly’s
savings. We find that the differences in life expectancy related to observable
factors such as health, gender, and income have large effects on savings, and
that these factors contribute by simi- lar amounts. We also show that the risk
of outliving one’s expected lifespan has a large effect on the elderly’s
saving behavior. |