Private Intergenerational Transfers and Population Aging

1. Introduction.- 2 Motives for Private Intergenerational Transfers.- 2.1 Altruistic Transfers.- 2.2 Accidental Bequests.- 2.3 Transfers as Exchange.- 2.4 Transfers for Joy-of-Giving.- 2.5 Empirical Evidence.- 3. Empirical Facts About Transfers in Germany.- 3.1 The Income and Expenditure Survey 1993.- 3.2 The Socio-Economic Panel.- 3.2.1 Transfers Inter Vivos.- 3.2.2 Bequests Between 1960 and 1988.- 3.2.3 Particulars about Wealth Holdings.- 4. Private versus Public Transfers During a Demographic Transition.- 4.1 The Demographic Transition.- 4.2 What Demographics Reveal About Public and Private Transfers.- 4.3 The Impact of the Transfer Motive.- 4.4 A Generational Accounting Approach.- 4.4.1 Conventional Generational Accounting.- 4.4.2 The Extension to Private Transfers.- 4.4.3 Caveats and Conclusion.- 5. Intergenerational Transfers in a General Equilibrium Setting.- 5.1 The Model.- 5.2 Private Transfers, Demographic Transition, and Generational Welfare.- 5.2.1 No Private Transfers.- 5.2.2 Joy-of-Giving.- 5.2.3 Accidental Bequests.- 5.2.4 Bequests-as-Exchange.- 5.2.5 Summary.- 5.3 Intergenerational Transfer Accounting and General Equilibrium.- 5.3.1 Conventional Generational Accounting.- 5.3.2 Extended Generational Accounting.- 5.3.3 Summary.- 5.4 The Taxation of Private Intergenerational Transfers.- 5.4.1 The Impact of Distortionary Social Insurance Contributions.- 5.4.2 Joy-of-Giving.- 5.4.3 Accidental Bequests.- 5.4.4 Bequests-as-Exchange.- 5.4.5 Summary.- 6. Summary.- A. Appendix.- A.1 The Implications of Altruistic Bequests.- A.2 The Impact of Social Security on Accidental Bequests.- A.4 Sensitivity Analysis of Public and Private Accounts.- A.5 The Unified General Equilibrium Model.- A.6 Bequests-as-Exchange and Lump-Sum Taxation.- A.7 The Derivation of Future Generations’ Public Generational Account.- A.8 The Derivation of the Life-Cycle Budget Constraint in Terms of an Average Individual.- A.9 The Calculation of Future Generations’ Total Generational Account.- A.10 The Equivalence of GAt+l,t+1 and TTt+i,t+1 under Steady State Conditions.- A.11 The Equivalence of Extended Generational Accounting and the Back-of-the-Envelope Calculation.- A.12 Complete Simulation Results.- References.