Do Germans Save to Leave an Estate? An Examination of the Bequest Motive
研究了遗赠动机是否影响德国家庭退休后的财富轨迹，发现子女存在与否无显著影响，但明确表示有遗赠意愿的家庭财富持有量差异较大。
I investigate whether a bequest motive for savings influences the post‐retirement wealth trajectories of German households. Two measures of the bequest motive are studied: the existence of children as the main group of potential heirs and the respondents' declared intention to bequeath. While having children has no significant impact on households' wealth trajectories, stated bequest intentions are associated with considerable heterogeneity in wealth holdings. The main conclusion from this study is that both the pure life‐cycle model and the life‐cycle model with bequest motives provide a valid basis for a theory of household wealth accumulation once the heterogeneity of preferences is acknowledged.