Abstract

his paper quantifies the impact of life-cycle events on retirement wealth. Because lifetime events impact through multiple channels, I estimate a set of correlated equations that capture labor market behavior, portfolio and savings decisions, risk preferences, family and health characteristics, using data from the iconic Chilean experiment. Results indicate that gender inequality due to marital status is responsible for 18 dollars of wealth differences per married year. Impacts on wealth accumulation from childbearing range between 9 and 114 dollars per child per year. Health shocks have an impact of 39 dollars per year on retirement wealth.