A Parsimonious Model of Subjective Life Expectancy

Alexander Ludwig and Alexander Zimper

No 7154, MEA discussion paper series from Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy

Abstract: This paper develops a theoretical model for the formation of subjective beliefs on individual survival expectations. Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) indicate that, on average, young respondents underestimate their true sur- vival probability whereas old respondents overestimate their survival probability. Such subjective beliefs violate the rational expectations paradigm and are also not in line with the predictions of the rational Bayesian learning paradigm. We therefore introduce a model of Bayesian learning which combines rational learn- ing with the possibility that the interpretation of new information is prone to psychological attitudes. We estimate the parameters of our theoretical model by pooling the HRS data. Despite a parsimonious parametrization we find that our model results in a remarkable fit to the average subjective beliefs expressed in the data.

JEL-codes: C44 D83 D91 I10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-12-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Related works:
Journal Article: A parsimonious model of subjective life expectancy (2013)
Working Paper: A parsimonious model of subjective life expectancy (2008)
Working Paper: A parsimonious model of subjective life expectancy (2007)
Working Paper: A Parsimonious Model of Subjective Life Expectancy (2007)
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