The Taste for Bequests and Well-Being of Widows: A Model of Life Insurance Demand by Married Couples

John M. Fitzgerald ()

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1989, vol. 71, issue 2, pages 206-14

Abstract: For married couples with some insurance on the husbands, the annuitized consumptions of widows of older husbands is found to be higher, on average, than if their husbands had lived. Given the age of the husband, younger widows are relatively worse-off. In the context of life insurance demand, this paper models the decision about how well-off to leave a surviving spouse relative to her situation had both spouses lived. The parameters of the model are estimated from estate and income tax data for a Wisconsin sample of married couples where the husband predeceased the wife. Copyright 1989 by MIT Press.

Date: 1989
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