TY  - JOUR
AU  - Auerbach,Alan J.
AU  - Kotlikoff,Laurence J.
AU  - Weil,David N.
TI  - The Increasing Annuitization of the Elderly- Estimates and Implications for Intergenerational Tranfers, Inequality, and National Saving
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4182
PY  - 1992
Y2  - October 1992
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4182
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4182.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Alan J. Auerbach
Department of Economics
530 Evans Hall, #3880
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
Tel: 510/643-0711
Fax: 510/643-0413
E-Mail: auerbach@econ.berkeley.edu

Laurence J. Kotlikoff
Department of Economics
Boston University
270 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: 617/353-4002
Fax: 617/353-4001
E-Mail: kotlikoff@gmail.com

David N. Weil
Department of Economics
Box B
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401/863-1754
Fax: 401/863-1970
E-Mail: david_weil@brown.edu
AB  - This paper examines changes over time in the degree to which the resources (human plus nonhuman wealth) of the elderly have been annuitized. Using data from the 1962 and 1983 Federal Reserve Surveys of Consumer Finances we find evidence of an increase in annuitization which is particularly pronounced among the older elderly (those over 75) and among women. The estimated 1983 flow of aggregate bequests to children and grandchildren would have been 20% larger were it not for this increase in annuitization. The change in annuitization may have contributed significantly to the recent decline of the U.S. national saving rate.
ER  -