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Too Risk Averse to Purchase Insurance? A Theoretical Glance at the Annuity Puzzle

Author

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  • Antoine Bommier

    (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

  • François Le Grand

    (EMLyon Business School, France and ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract

This paper suggests a new explanation for the low level of annuitization, which is valid even if one assumes perfect markets. We show that, as soon there exists a positive bequest motive, sufficiently risk averse individuals should not purchase annuities. A model calibration accounting for temporal risk aversion generates a willingness-to-pay for annuities, which is significantly smaller than the one generated by a standard Yaari (1965) model. Moreover, the calibration predicts that riskless savings finances one third of consumption, in line with empirical findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Antoine Bommier & François Le Grand, 2012. "Too Risk Averse to Purchase Insurance? A Theoretical Glance at the Annuity Puzzle," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 12/157, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:eth:wpswif:12-157
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Han, Nan-Wei & Hung, Mao-Wei, 2021. "The annuity puzzle and consumption hump under ambiguous life expectancy," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 76-88.
    2. Svetlana Pashchenko & Ponpoje Porapakkarm, 2022. "Value of life and annuity demand," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(2), pages 371-396, June.
    3. David Blake & Marco Morales & Enrico Biffis & Yijia Lin & Andreas Milidonis, 2017. "Special Edition: Longevity 10 – The Tenth International Longevity Risk and Capital Markets Solutions Conference," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 84(S1), pages 515-532, April.
    4. Hippolyte d’Albis & Emmanuel Thibault, 2018. "Ambiguous life expectancy and the demand for annuities," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 85(3), pages 303-319, October.
    5. M. Martin Boyer & Philippe De Donder & Claude Fluet & Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre-Carl Michaud, 2020. "Long-Term Care Insurance: Information Frictions and Selection," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 134-169, August.
    6. Andrew Grant & Steve Satchell, 2019. "Endogenous divorce risk and investment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 845-876, July.
    7. Mouna Zerriaa & Mohamed Marouen Amiri & Hedi Noubbigh & Kamel Naoui, 2017. "Determinants of Life Insurance Demand in Tunisia," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 69-80, March.
    8. Lambregts, Timo R. & Schut, Frederik T., 2020. "Displaced, disliked and misunderstood: A systematic review of the reasons for low uptake of long-term care insurance and life annuities," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    9. Maria Alexandrova & Nadine Gatzert, 2019. "What Do We Know About Annuitization Decisions?," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 22(1), pages 57-100, March.
    10. Delprat, G. & Leroux, M.-L. & Michaud, P.-C., 2016. "Evidence on individual preferences for longevity risk," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 160-179, April.
    11. Andreas Richter & Jörg Schiller & Harris Schlesinger, 2014. "Behavioral insurance: Theory and experiments," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 85-96, April.
    12. Antoine Bommier & François Grand, 2014. "Too risk averse to purchase insurance?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 135-166, April.
    13. Bommier, Antoine & Schernberg, Hélène, 2021. "Would you prefer your retirement income to depend on your life expectancy?," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    14. Anna Kaliciak & Radoslaw Kurach & Walid Merouani, 2016. "Who is Eager to Save for Retirement – the Cross-Country Evidence," LWS Working papers 23, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    15. Walid Merouani & Claire El Moudden & Nacer Eddine Hammouda, 2021. "Social Security Enrollment as an Indicator of State Fragility and Legitimacy: A Field Experiment in Maghreb Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-25, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    annuity puzzle; insurance demand; bequest; intergenerational transfers; temporal risk aversion; multiplicative preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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