Abstract
This paper investigates whether families save partially to self-insure against uncertain future earnings and estimates the extent to which pooled insurance substitutes for saving as a precaution against earnings risk. An econometric model is estimated using unique household survey data from the nineteenth century to examine families' joint saving and insurance decisions. The historical microdata are of interest because they predate widespread social insurance programs, which may stunt self-insurance through private saving among contemporary families. The econometric results imply that two independent measures of idiosyncratic earnings risk matter for families' saving decisions. Additionally, families whose primary wage earners belong to labor unions significantly save less frequently than others, all else being equal, but this tendency is not apparent among members of private benevolent societies.
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