Household Response to Government Debt: Evidence from Life Insurance Holdings

被引:1
|
作者
Craig, Steven G. [1 ]
Hoang, Edward C. [2 ]
Vollrath, Dietrich [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Houston, Houston, TX 77004 USA
[2] Univ Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO USA
关键词
government debt; life insurance; bequests; Ricardian Equivalence; savings; DEMAND; CONSUMPTION;
D O I
10.1111/jmcb.12234
中图分类号
F8 [财政、金融];
学科分类号
0202 ;
摘要
We use state-level panel data on life insurance in force in the United States and find that a $1 increase in government debt, at either the state or federal level is associated with a $0.96 increase in the face value of the average life insurance holdings per capita for a household in the average state. This increase represents an intention to save that would almost completely offset the government debt in specific states of the world (i.e., if the insured dies). Because this state of the world is rare, the immediate increase in actual savings is only about $0.03, the cost of the additional insurance. We find, in addition, that this response occurs mainly on the intensive margin, meaning that the size of the average life insurance policy increases when government debt increases. Along the extensive margin, we find the number of policies in force falls slightly with federal debt, and rises slightly with state debt increases. The results show altruistic planning in response to changes in government debt that are consistent with Ricardian Equivalence and the long-run neutrality of government debt.
引用
收藏
页码:819 / 845
页数:27
相关论文
共 50 条
  • [41] Young democracies and government debt: evidence from South America
    Bittencourt, Manoel
    [J]. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC POLICY REFORM, 2019, 22 (04) : 351 - 368
  • [42] International Evidence on the Determinants of Domestic Sovereign Debt Bank Holdings
    Chronopoulos, Dimitris K.
    Dotsis, George
    Milonas, Nikolaos T.
    [J]. JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH, 2020, 58 (2-3) : 143 - 160
  • [43] Household debt and income inequality: Evidence from Italian survey data
    Loschiavo, David
    [J]. REVIEW OF INCOME AND WEALTH, 2021, 67 (01) : 61 - 103
  • [44] Government-Business Relations and Corporate Cash Holdings: Evidence from China
    Gao, Yu
    Cai, Yan
    Teng, Zhuoqi
    Fang, Yuantao
    [J]. ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL STUDIES, 2022, 51 (06) : 914 - 944
  • [45] Timing Ability of Government Bond Fund Managers: Evidence from Portfolio Holdings
    Huang, Jing-Zhi
    Wang, Ying
    [J]. MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, 2014, 60 (08) : 2091 - 2109
  • [46] Holdings of Government Bonds by Commercial Banks during the Financial and Debt Crisis in Europe
    Gvozdjak, Vladimir
    Chovancova, Bozena
    [J]. EUROPEAN FINANCIAL SYSTEM 2016: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 13TH INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE, 2016, : 207 - 213
  • [47] Household Debt in Early Modern Germany: Evidence from Personal Inventories
    Ogilvie, Sheilagh
    Kuepker, Markus
    Maegraith, Janine
    [J]. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY, 2012, 72 (01): : 134 - 167
  • [48] LINKING HOUSEHOLD DEBT AND HEALTH: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM POLAND
    Walega, Grzegorz
    Walega, Agnieszka
    [J]. 11TH INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF STATISTICS AND ECONOMICS, 2017, : 1845 - 1853
  • [49] How household debt impacts residents' health: evidence from China
    Yin, Xinyun
    Wang, Rui
    Zhao, Menglu
    [J]. APPLIED ECONOMICS LETTERS, 2024, 31 (11) : 996 - 999
  • [50] The case for government life insurance
    Taylor, Maurice
    [J]. LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS, 1935, 2 (01) : 99 - 116