America's addiction to tontines

Tontines—that is, investment contracts which are essentially death gambles—permeate the American and international landscape in varieties that sometimes obscure their tontine-like qualities. Some of these financial devices serve valuable functions and are funded by the appropriate parties, and therefore their use should be encouraged. Other tontines place funding obligations on those not fully consenting to that burden, however, and promote undesired behavior by the beneficiaries of the tontines. This article categorizes tontine-like contracts by analyzing their funding sources and behavioral impacts. Further, it recommends the use of some tontines—such as defined-benefit pension plans—be discouraged.