Variable Annuities and Aggregate Mortality Risk

Martin Weale () and Justin van de Ven

National Institute Economic Review, 2016, vol. 237, issue 1, R55-R61

Abstract: This paper explores the extent to which annuitants might be prepared to pay for protection against cohort-specific mortality risk, by comparing traditional indexed annuities with annuities whose payout rates are revised in response to differences between expected and actual mortality rates of the cohort in question. It finds that a man aged 65 with a coefficient of relative risk aversion of two would be prepared to pay 75p per £100 annuitised for protection against aggregate mortality risk while a man with risk aversion of twenty would be prepared to pay £5.75 per £100; studies put the actual cost at £2.70–£7 per £100, suggesting that unless annuitants are very risk averse it is likely that existing products tend to over-insure against cohort mortality risk.

Keywords: variable annuity; aggregate mortality risk; risk aversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 D91 J11 J14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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