Cognitive Decline, Limited Awareness, Imperfect Agency, and Financial Well-being
Cognitive decline may lead older Americans to make poor financial decisions. Preventing poor decisions may require timely transfer of financial control to a reliable agent. Cognitive decline, however, can develop unnoticed, creating the possibility of suboptimal timing of the transfer of control. This paper presents survey-based evidence that wealthholders regard suboptimal timing of the transfer of control, in particular delay due to unnoticed cognitive decline, as a substantial risk to financial well-being. This paper provides a theoretical framework to model such a lack of awareness and the resulting welfare loss.
Published Versions
John Ameriks & Andrew Caplin & Minjoon Lee & Matthew D. Shapiro & Christopher Tonetti, 2023. "Cognitive Decline, Limited Awareness, Imperfect Agency, and Financial Well-Being," American Economic Review: Insights, vol 5(1), pages 125-140. citation courtesy of 
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