Description: Elderly women living alone experience some of the highest poverty rates in the United States. One reason for their financial frailty is that they face more longevity risk than men. Existing financial products that can mitigate this risk are not attractive to many people. Can alternative vehicles for pooling longevity risk be developed outside the insurance market that would appeal to these individuals? This paper suggests some risk-pooling approaches and compares their effectiveness and viability.

Description: This paper focuses on the situation of women at high ages and the implications of longer life for women. This paper draws on and brings together work done by the Society of Actuaries in connection with the 2005 post-retirement risk survey, work from Social Security administration studies, U.S. government census data, WISER, the MetLife Mature Market Institute and papers funded by the Social Security research center.

Description: References used in this research project looking at the mortality sex differential. From Why Men Die Younger - Causes of Mortality Differences by Sex, M-LI01-1.

Description: In light of the almost universal mortality differential by sex, Chapter 6 examines briefly the major causes of death comparing the results by sex: heart disease, cancer, accidents/violence, cerebrovascular disease, and infectious/parasitic disease. From Why Men Die Younger: Causes of Mortality Differences by Sex, M-LI01-1.

Description: This paper examines the problem of a growing net benefit reduction for working women who are entitled to benefits in their own right, as well as to benefits as surviving spouses of covered workers.

Description: This paper examines the current presence of more females in the work force, and the Social Security/retirement issues that are raised by this trend. From Retirement Implications of Demographic and Family Change Symposium Monograph, M-RS02-2.

Description: Chapter 3 examines historical mortality estimates that differentiate between male and female starting as far back as 1600 years ago and through the centuries to modern times when more reliable data becomes available. From Why Men Die Younger: Causes of Mortality Differences by Sex, M-LI01-1.

Description: Chapter 4 states that greater male mortality is almost universal throughout the world, although the difference between male and female mortality varies from country to country and region to region. From Why Men Die Younger: Causes of Mortality Differences by Sex, M-LI01-1.

Description: Seven appendices laying out the research data used in this paper in table form. From Why Men Die Younger: Causes of Mortality Differences by Sex, M-LI01-1.

Description: Elderly women living alone experience some of the highest poverty rates in the United States. One reason for their financial frailty is that they face more longevity risk than men. Existing financial products that can mitigate this risk are not attractive to many people. Can alternative vehicles for pooling longevity risk be developed outside the insurance market that would appeal to these individuals? This paper suggests some risk-pooling approaches and compares their effectiveness and viability.