Asset Holdings and the Life Cycle

54 Pages Posted: 11 Sep 2001 Last revised: 7 Sep 2022

See all articles by Mervyn King

Mervyn King

Bank of England; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Louis Dicks-Mireaux

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: 1981

Abstract

Empirical studies of the life cycle savings model have tended to rej ect the hypothesis of a "hump-shaped" pattern for the wealth-age profile. In this paper we show, using new data on net worth for 12,734 families, that there is evidence that wealth declines after retirement provided that we control for differences in permanent income and take account of sample selection bias. The estimated rates of decumulation are consistent with a life cycle model in which there is uncertainty about the date of death.

Suggested Citation

King, Mervyn A. and Dicks-Mireaux, Louis, Asset Holdings and the Life Cycle (1981). NBER Working Paper No. w0614, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=275371

Mervyn A. King (Contact Author)

Bank of England ( email )

Threadneedle Street
London, EC2R 8AH
United Kingdom
44-20-7601-4963 (Phone)
44-20-7601-3047 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Louis Dicks-Mireaux

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
61
Abstract Views
1,740
Rank
638,193
PlumX Metrics