期刊名称:SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association
印刷版ISSN:1869-4187
电子版ISSN:1869-4195
出版年度:2013
卷号:4
期号:4
页码:393-413
DOI:10.1007/s13209-013-0098-y
出版社:Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
摘要:This article examines the potential risks on consumption behavior of lump-sum payments. As a pension, lump-sum payments could be consumed too fast and generate an increase of poverty rates. We experimentally investigate consumption behavior in an inter-temporal decision-making setting. Subjects make consumption and saving decisions in an environment with two central features: first, there exists a decreasing probability of survival; and second, in addition to the regular income they get while active, they receive a unique lump-sum payment when retired. The results of this experiment show that rather than consuming too much during their income periods, subjects show a persistent precautionary saving behavior and over-save in the vast majority of periods. This result seems to be mainly driven by the risk averse individuals.