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Precautionary motives and portfolio decisions

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Author Info
Stefan Hochguertel (Finance & Consumption, Department of Economics, EUI, Florence, Italy, and Department of Economics, Uppsala University, Sweden)

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Abstract

This paper studies the empirical relevance of precautionary and other motives for household portfolio behaviour using recent panel data from the Netherlands. Dutch households' portfolios exhibit low degrees of risk taking and diversification. It is possible that this is the outcome of a rational, precautionary response to unavoidable exposure to background risk (stemming from the labour market or health conditions, etc.). We consider as alternative explanations liquidity needs and habits. The endogenous variable is the fraction of clearly safe in total financial assets at the household level. Parametric and semi-parametric censored regression models for pooled cross-sections and random and fixed effects models for panel data show that both heteroscedasticity and unobserved heterogeneity are of major importance in the data. With subjective indicators of income uncertainty we find a limited role for precautionary motives. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/jae.658
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Article provided by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. in its journal Journal of Applied Econometrics.

Volume (Year): 18 (2003)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 61-77
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Handle: RePEc:jae:japmet:v:18:y:2003:i:1:p:61-77

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Dana P. Goldman & Nicole Maestas, 2007. "Medical Expenditure Risk and Household Portfolio Choice," Working Papers 325-1, RAND Corporation Publications Department. [Downloadable!]
  2. Hugo Benítez-Silva, 2003. "Labor Supply Flexibility and Portfolio Choice: An Empirical Analysis," Working Papers wp056, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center. [Downloadable!]
  3. Alessie, R. & Hochguertel, S. & Soest, A. van, 2000. "Household portfolios in the Netherlands," Discussion Paper 55, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  4. Atreya Chakraborty & Mark Kazarosian, 1999. "Portfolio Allocation of Precautionary Assets: Panel Evidence for the United States," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 432, Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. David Love & Paul A. Smith, 2008. "Does Health Affect Portfolio Choice?," Department of Economics Working Papers 2008-11, Department of Economics, Williams College. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Andersson, Björn, 2001. "Portfolio Allocation over the Life Cycle: Evidence from Swedish Household Data," Working Paper Series 2001:4, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Sule Alan, 2004. "Precautionary Wealth and Portfolio Allocation: Evidence from Canadian Microdata," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 117, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
  8. Dana Goldman & Nicole Maestas, 2005. "Medical Expenditure Risk and Household Portfolio Choice," NBER Working Papers 11818, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Steven J. Davis & Felix Kubler & Paul Willen, 2005. "Borrowing costs and the demand for equity over the life cycle," Working Papers 05-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Stefan Hochguertel, 2003. "Precautionary motives and portfolio decisions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 61-77. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Luigi Ventura, 2007. "A note on the relevance of prudence in precautionary saving," Economics Bulletin, Economics Bulletin, vol. 4(23), pages 1-11. [Downloadable!]
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