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Expenditure Flows Near Widowhood

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ABSTRACT

Using data from the 1980–2001 Consumer Expenditure Surveys, we investigate how impending widowhood affects households’ expenditure patterns. We find that total annual expenditures are $4,027 higher for about-to-be-widowed households compared to otherwise comparable continuously married couples. Within subcategories, expenditures average $4,108 higher for the miscellaneous subcategory which includes expenditures on funerals/burials. We conclude that differences in the needs-adjusted incomes of married and widowed households may be partly a function of pre-widowhood differences in their expenditure patterns that lead about-to-be-widowhood households to draw down on financial wealth.

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Acknowledgments

The research reported in this paper was supported by the National Institute on Aging Grant 1 R03 AG18902-01. We are grateful to Kuo-Liang Chang for his excellent research support.

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Correspondence to Jessie X. Fan.

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Fan, J.X., Zick, C.D. Expenditure Flows Near Widowhood. J Fam Econ Iss 27, 335–353 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-006-9008-9

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