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to date of death and treated the demand for bequests as the demand for a certain, although qui te special, commodity. This paper LLLllllllLLL the fundamental uncertainty of the date of death; the uncertainty of death

'provides the opportunity to directly estimate the elasticity of bequests with respect to lifetime resources. The idea is quite simple; since death may occur at any time, people arrange their affairs to make a bequest contingent upon dying at each point in time. This contingent bequest may differ over time depending on the age of the potential decedent, the number, ages, and incomes of other surviving family members, changes in estate tax laws, etc. Life insurance and annuities are important mechanisms which permit the contingent bequest to differ from accumulated savings and free up the consumption decision from the contingent bequest decision. At any point in time the contingent bequest equals the …