ISBN: 3790813024
TITLE: Private Intergenerational Transfers
AUTHOR: Lth, Erik
TOC:

1. Introduction 1
2. Motives for Private Intergenerational Transfers 5
2.1 Altruistic Transfers 5
2.2 Accidental Bequests 9
2.3 Transfers as Exchange 11
2.4 Transfers for Joy-of-Giving 14
2.5 Empirical Evidence 15
3. Empirical Facts About Transfers in Germany 25
3.1 The Income and Expenditure Survey 1993 26
3.2 The Socio-Economic Panel 41
3.2.1 Transfers Inter Vivos 41
3.2.2 Bequests Between 1960 and 1988 46
3.2.3 Particulars about Wealth Holdings 52
4. Private versus Public Transfers During a Demographic Transition 59
4.1 The Demographic Transition 60
4.2 What Demographics Reveal About Public and Private Transfers 69
4.3 The Impact of the Transfer Motive 72
4.4 A Generational Accounting Approach 78
4.4.1 Conventional Generational Accounting 78
4.4.2 The Extension to Private Transfers 87
4.4.3 Caveats and Conclusion 95
5. Intergenerational Transfers in a General Equilibrium Setting 99
5.1 The Model 100
5.2 Private Transfers, Demographic Transition, and Generational Welfare 104
5.2.1 No Private Transfers 104
5.2.2 Joy-of-Giving 107
5.2.3 Accidental Bequests 109
5.2.4 Bequests-as-Exchange 112
5.2.5 Summary 115
5.3 Intergenerational Transfer Accounting and General Equilibrium 116
5.3.1 Conventional Generational Accounting 117
5.3.2 Extended Generational Accounting 121
5.3.3 Summary 126
5.4 The Taxation of Private Intergenerational Transfers 128
5.4.1 The Impact of Distortionary Social Insurance Contributions 129
5.4.2 Joy-of-Giving 132
5.4.3 Accidental Bequests 136
5.4.4 Bequests-as-Exchange 138
5.4.5 Summary 141
6. Summary 143
A. Appendix 147
A.1 The Implications of Altruistic Bequests 147
A.2 The Impact of Social Security on Accidental Bequests 149
A.3 The Impact of the Number of Children on Inheritances Per Capita 151
A.4 Sensitivity Analysis of Public and Private Accounts 154
A.5 The Unified General Equilibrium Model 155
A.6 Bequests-as-Exchange and Lump-Sum Taxation 156
A.7 The Derivation of Future Generations' Public Generational Account 156
A.8 The Derivation of the Life-Cycle Budget Constraint in Terms of an Average Individual 157
A.9 The Calculation of Future Generations' Total Generational Account 158
A.10 The Equivalence of GA^tot_t+1,t+1 and TT_t+1,t+1 under Steady State Conditions 159
A.11 The Equivalence of Extended Generational Accounting and the Back-of-the-Envelope Calculation 160
A.12 Complete Simulation Results 162
References 181
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