Essays on health insurance, saving behavior and the wealth distribution

Abstract

This dissertation contains three essays related to health Insurance, saving behavior and the wealth distribution. The first essay, Health Insurance and Household Savings, studies a puzzling insurance and saving pattern of households in the U.S. The second essay, Expanding Health Insurance: Impacts on Saving and the Wealth Distribution, investigates the potential impacts of health insurance expansion on saving and wealth distribution. The last essay provides an interpretation for the seemingly conflicting evidence found by recent empirical studies on health insurance and household savings.