Oxford Events, the new replacement for OxTalks, will launch on 16th March. The two-week OxTalks freeze period starts on Monday 2nd March. During this time, there will be no facility to publish or edit events. The existing OxTalks site will remain available to view during this period. Once Oxford Events launches, you will need a Halo login to submit events. Full details are available on the Staff Gateway.
We estimate individual survival curves using data on subjective survival probabilities. We show that, although individuals seem to have a good idea of how their potential longevity compares to that of other people of their age and sex, they do not have a good understanding of the shape of the survival curve that they face. In particular, we show that most individuals perceive that their survival curve is much ‘flatter’ than actuarial estimates suggest – that is, they appear to under-estimate the chance of surviving to younger ages but over-estimate the chance of surviving to very old age. This has potentially important implications for how individuals behave. We discuss how this result can affect certain economic decisions on financial planning for retirement.
