Does ill health affect savings intentions? Evidence from SHARE

Content This paper uses data from SHARE 2004 to analyze one possible causal pathway of the health-wealth gradient, namely differences in the marginal propensity to save and spend across different health states. Conditional on age and current wealth, I find weak relationships between health and the intended use of a hypothetical windfall gift as well bequest expectations. The overall effect of health on wealth through this link is positive but very small.