Gifts, wills and inheritance law

This chapter provides a survey of recent theoretical and empirical work on bequeathing from the viewpoint of both economics, and law and economics. We focus on the interaction between individuals’ preferences, legal and fiscal institutions and bequeathing. Two conclusions emerge. First, it appears clearly that the level, the pattern and the timing of bequests depend on both the preferences of the donors and the type of regulation and taxation imposed on inheritance. Second, and conversely, the desirability of such taxation and regulation depends closely on the type of bequests (voluntary or involuntary) that one observes in a given country in a given period.