Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/71702 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7317
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The standard model of intertemporal choice assumes risk neutrality toward the length of life: due to additivity, agents are not sensitive to a mean preserving spread in the length of life. Using a survey fielded in the RAND American Life Panel (ALP), this paper provides empirical evidence on possible deviation from risk neutrality with respect to longevity in the U.S. population. The questions we ask allow to find the distribution as well as to quantify the degree of risk aversion with respect to the length of life in the population. We find evidence that roughly 75% of respondents were not neutral with respect to longevity risk. Higher income households are more likely to be risk averse. We do not find evidence that the degree of risk aversion varies with age or education.
Subjects: 
intertemporal choice
risk aversion toward the length of life
stated-preference
JEL: 
D12
D91
I10
J26
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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