TY - RPRT AU - Bissonnette, Luc AU - Hurd, Michael D. AU - Michaud, Pierre-Carl TI - Individual Survival Curves Comparing Subjective and Observed Mortality Risks PY - 2014/Nov/ PB - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) CY - Bonn T2 - IZA Discussion Paper IS - 8658 UR - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp8658 AB - In this paper, we compare individual survival curves constructed from objective (actual mortality) and elicited subjective information (probability of survival to a given target age). We develop a methodology to estimate jointly subjective and objective individual-survival curves accounting for rounding on subjective reports of perceived mortality risk. We make use of the long follow-up period in the Health and Retirement Study and the high quality of mortality data to estimate individual survival curves which feature both observed and unobserved heterogeneity. This allows us to compare objective and subjective estimates of remaining life expectancy for various groups, evaluate subjective expectations of joint survival and widowhood by household, and compare objective and subjective mortality with standard life-cycle models of consumption. KW - joint survival of couples KW - old age mortality KW - subjective probabilities ER -