主 题: Intentional Bequest Motives and the Choice of Annuity
内容简介: This paper identifies the intentional bequest motive by exploiting the choices between two compulsory partial annuity plans in Singapore, the default Standard Plan with a higher monthly payout but a lower bequest, and the Basic Plan with a lower monthly payout but a higher bequest. Because actively choosing the Basic plan increases committed bequests but not precautionary savings, individuals choose the Basic plan only if they want to leave bequests intentionally. Using our own household survey data, we find that about 20 percent of people choose the Basic Plan, which provides direct evidence for the existence of the intentional bequest motive. Better educated individuals, and individuals with children are more likely to intentionally leave bequests. Consistent with the altruism motive hypothesis, individuals with poorly educated or financially insecure children are more likely to leave bequests. Contradicting to the reciprocity hypothesis, the frequency of children's visit has no impact on the probability of leaving bequests. To differentiate between motivations for leaving bequests, we further ask individuals to allocate real high stake lotteries to their children and study the correlation between the allocation and children's behavior. We find that most people allocate lotteries equally across their children, in line with the motive of the joy of giving and against the reciprocity motive. Our structural estimation shows that households have strong bequest motive and bequests are luxury goods.
报告人: 朱胜豪 教授
时 间: 2019-04-19 11:00
地 点: 敏行102
举办单位: 金融学院 科研部 经济与金融研究院
