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PENSION SURVIVORS INSURANCE FOR WIDOWS
Author(s) -
Turner John A.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.1988.tb01504.x
Subject(s) - pension , private pension , economics , pension insurance , tobit model , social security , sample (material) , equity (law) , poverty , actuarial science , labour economics , demographic economics , finance , economic growth , political science , law , chemistry , chromatography , market economy , econometrics
Men frequently do not provide pension survivors insurance for their wives. To analyze why, a demand‐supply model of survivors insurance is presented. Using the Survey of Private Pension Benefit Amounts, Tobit estimates are calculated for a sample of married male pensioners. Social security reduces the survivors insurance provided through private pensions, partially foiling governmental attempts to reduce poverty among widows. The decline in inflation and the Supreme Court's unisex pension decisions have increased the selection of pension survivors insurance so that an increase could not necessarily be attributed to the passage of the Retirement Equity Act.