TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bernheim,B. Douglas
TI  - Dissaving After Retirement:  Testing the Pure Life Cycle Hypothesis
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1409
PY  - 1987
Y2  - November 1987
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1409
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1409.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
B. Douglas Bernheim
Department of Economics
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6072
Tel: 650/725-8732
Fax: 650/725-5702
E-Mail: bernheim@stanford.edu
M1  - published as B. Douglas Bernheim. "Dissaving after Retirement: Testing the Pure Life Cycle Hypothesis ," in Zvi Bodie, John B. Shoven, and David A. Wise, eds., "Issues in Pension Economics" University of Chicago Press (1987)

AB  - In this paper, we examine several aspects of saving and dissaving after retirement. First, we argue that existing evidence on bequeathable age-wealth profiles is suspect, and provide new evidence based on longitudinal data indicating that significant dissaving may occur,particularly among single individuals and early retirees. Second, we argue that, in the presence of annuities, estimates of dissaving should be adjusted by including the simple discounted value of benefits in total wealth. Such adjustments reveal relatively little dissaving among any group of retirees. Finally, we test the pure life cycle hypothesis by observing the behavioral response of rates of accumulation to involuntary annuitization, and find empirical refutation of life cycle implications.
ER  -