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Unequal Bequests

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Francesconi
  • Robert A. Pollak
  • Domenico Tabasso
Abstract
Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we make two contributions to the literature on end-of-life transfers. First, we show that unequal bequests are much more prevalent than generally recognized, with more than one-third of parents with wills planning to divide their estates unequally among their children. Plans for unequal division are particularly concentrated in complex families, i.e., families with stepchildren and families with genetic children with whom parents have limited or no contact. Second, we find that many older Americans have no wills. Although the probability of having a will increases with age, 30 percent of individuals aged 70 plus are without a will and, of the people who died between 1995 and 2012, nearly 40 percent died intestate.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Francesconi & Robert A. Pollak & Domenico Tabasso, 2015. "Unequal Bequests," NBER Working Papers 21692, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21692
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    Cited by:

    1. Frank Cowell & Dirk Van de gaer, 2017. "Condorcet was Wrong, Pareto was Right: Families, Inheritance and Inequality," STICERD - Public Economics Programme Discussion Papers 34, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    2. Olivera, Javier, 2017. "The division of inter-vivos parental transfers in Europe," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 41-51.
    3. Max Groneck, 2017. "Bequests and Informal Long-Term Care: Evidence from HRS Exit Interviews," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(2), pages 531-572.
    4. Francesconi, Marco & Slonimczyk, Fabian & Yurko, Anna, 2017. "Moving On Up for High School Graduates in Russia: The Consequences of the Uni ed State Exam Reform," CEPR Discussion Papers 11996, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Oscar Erixson & Henry Ohlsson, 2019. "Estate division: equal sharing, exchange motives, and Cinderella effects," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1437-1480, October.
    6. Max Groneck & Frederic Krehl, 2014. "Bequests and Informal Long-Term Care: Evidence from the HRS Exit Interviews," Working Paper Series in Economics 79, University of Cologne, Department of Economics.
    7. Stark, Oded & Cukrowska-Torzewska, Ewa, 2018. "Gender differentiation in intergenerational care-giving and migration choices," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 118-134.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • K36 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Family and Personal Law

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