Durable consumption, saving and retirement

Torben Andersen () and Mikkel Hermansen ()

Journal of Population Economics, 2014, vol. 27, issue 3, 825-840

Abstract: Durables yield services through life but are also a store of value and both features may have important implications for savings and retirement decisions. Durables also affect bequests and thus induce intergenerational transfers. We show that allowing explicitly for durables has important implications for retirement decisions and responses to various changes in the environment. An improvement in the possibility of freeing housing capital makes the old retire earlier (income effect) while the young plan to retire later since they increase housing demand and reduce financial savings. Considering welfare in stationary equilibrium, we find that a reduction in wealth locking-in in durables is not necessarily welfare improving due to the effects on bequests. From a social welfare perspective, individuals tend to choose too much financial savings, too little durable acquisition and too early retirement. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Keywords: Durable consumption; Retirement; Housing; Wealth decumulation; Bequests; D91; J26; R21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-013-0490-8

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