WhyDontPeopleInsureLateLifeConsumptionAFraming.PDFVIP

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES WHY DONT PEOPLE INSURE LATE LIFE CONSUMPTION: A FRAMING EXPLANATION OF THE UNDER-ANNUITIZATION PUZZLE Jeffrey R. Brown Jeffrey R. Kling Sendhil Mullainathan Marian V. Wrobel Working Paper 13748 /papers/w13748 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 January 2008 We thank Abby Bookman and Garth Wiens for exceptional research assistance. We are grateful to the Pew Charitable Trusts and the TIAA-CREF Research Institute for financial support; Kling also thanks the MacArthur and Mott Foundations for support. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the TIAA-CREF Institute, the MacArthur Foundation or the Mott Foundation NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer- reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2008 by Jeffrey R. Brown, Jeffrey R. Kling, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Marian V. Wrobel. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Why Dont People Insure Late Life Consumption? A Framing Explanation of the Under-Annuitization Puzzle Jeffrey R. Brown, Jeffrey R. Kling, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Marian V. Wrobel NBER Working Paper No. 13748 Janua