To Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Prices for Funeral Homes in US States

Canofari, Paolo; Marini, Giancarlo; Scaramozzino, Pasquale

Abstract

The need for a proper burial is widely felt. This paper makes use of an original data set to explore the relationship between the prices of cemetery plots and the prices of housing. It considers a simple model where the services from both real estate and funeral homes enter individuals’ utility function, and derives testable propositions in order to analyse the relation between housing when alive and after death. The services from funeral homes and from conventional housing are complements in the households’ utility. On the other hand, the services from funeral homes are an inferior good: a lower personal income is associated with higher grave prices.

Citation

Canofari, P., Marini, G., & Scaramozzino, P. To Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Prices for Funeral Homes in US States. Rome, Italy

• Working Paper Type: Working Paper
• Deposit Date: Apr 5, 2013
• Pages: 1-25
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2199481
• Publisher URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2199481