Individual Survival Curves Comparing Subjective and Observed Mortality Risks

Luc Bissonnette, Michael Hurd () and Pierre-Carl Michaud

No 8658, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we compare individual survival curves constructed from objective (actual mortality) and elicited subjective information (probability of survival to a given target age). We develop a methodology to estimate jointly subjective and objective individual-survival curves accounting for rounding on subjective reports of perceived mortality risk. We make use of the long follow-up period in the Health and Retirement Study and the high quality of mortality data to estimate individual survival curves which feature both observed and unobserved heterogeneity. This allows us to compare objective and subjective estimates of remaining life expectancy for various groups, evaluate subjective expectations of joint survival and widowhood by household, and compare objective and subjective mortality with standard life-cycle models of consumption.

Keywords: joint survival of couples; old age mortality; subjective probabilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 D84 I10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2014-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published in: Health Economics, 2017, 26 (12), e285-e303

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https://docs.iza.org/dp8658.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Individual survival curves comparing subjective and observed mortality risks (2017)
Working Paper: Individual Survival Curves Comparing Subjective and Observed Mortality Risk (2015)
Working Paper: Individual Survival Curves Comparing Subjective and Observed Mortality Risks (2014)
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