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The Forgone Gains of Incomplete Portfolios

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  • Monica Paiella

Abstract

This article proposes a test for the cost-based explanation of nonparticipation, by estimating a lower bound to the forgone gains of incomplete portfolios; these are in turn a lower bound to the costs that could rationalize nonparticipation in financial markets: high bounds would imply implausibly high costs. Assuming isoelastic utility and a relative risk aversion of three or less, for the stock market I estimate an average lower bound of between 0.7 and 3.3 percent of consumption. Since total annual (observable plus unobservable) participation costs are likely to exceed these bounds, the cost-based explanation is not rejected by this test. , Oxford University Press.

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  • Monica Paiella, 2007. "The Forgone Gains of Incomplete Portfolios," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(5), pages 1623-1646, 2007 13.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:20:y:2007:i:5:p:1623-1646
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    Cited by:

    1. Khorunzhina, Natalia, 2013. "Structural estimation of stock market participation costs," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 2928-2942.
    2. Guiso, Luigi & Sodini, Paolo, 2013. "Household Finance: An Emerging Field," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1397-1532, Elsevier.
    3. Orazio P. Attanasio & Monica Paiella, 2011. "Intertemporal consumption choices, transaction costs and limited participation in financial markets: reconciling data and theory," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 322-343, March.
    4. Sewon Hur & Christopher Telmer & Siqiang Yang, 2018. "Household Portfolio Accounting," 2018 Meeting Papers 1298, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    5. Julio Gálvez & Gonzalo Paz-Pardo, 2022. "Richer earnings dynamics, consumption and portfolio choice over the life cycle," Working Papers 2241, Banco de España.
    6. Briggs, Joseph & Cesarini, David & Lindqvist, Erik & Östling, Robert, 2021. "Windfall gains and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 57-83.
    7. Monica Paiella & Andrea Tiseno, 2004. "Stock market optimism and participation cost: a mean-variance estimation," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 239, Econometric Society.
    8. Gottlieb, Charles, 2015. "On the distributive effects of inflation," SAFE Working Paper Series 116, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    9. Sauro Mocetti, 2012. "Educational choices and the selection process: before and after compulsory schooling," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 189-209, February.
    10. Korniotis, George & Bonaparte, Yosef & Kumar, Alok, 2020. "Income Risk and Stock Market Entry/Exit Decisions," CEPR Discussion Papers 15370, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Yannis Bilias & Dimitris Georgarakos & Michael Haliassos, 2010. "Portfolio Inertia and Stock Market Fluctuations," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 715-742, June.
    12. Pierre‐André Chiappori & Monica Paiella, 2011. "Relative Risk Aversion Is Constant: Evidence From Panel Data," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(6), pages 1021-1052, December.
    13. Marco Angrisani & Michael D. Hurd & Erik Meijer, 2012. "Investment Decisions in Retirement: The Role of Subjective Expectations," Working Papers wp274, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    14. Francisco Gomes & Alexander Michaelides & Valery Polkovnichenko, 2009. "Optimal Savings with Taxable and Tax-Deferred Accounts," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(4), pages 718-735, October.
    15. Monica Paiella & Andrea Tiseno, 2004. "Stock market optimism and participation cost: a mean-variance estimation," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 239, Econometric Society.
    16. Paya, Ivan & Wang, Peng, 2016. "Wealth fluctuations and investment in risky assets: The UK micro evidence on households asset allocation," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 221-235.
    17. Ricardo M. Sousa, 2007. "Wealth Shocks and Risk Aversion," NIPE Working Papers 28/2007, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    18. Xiong, Qizhou, 2015. "Censored Fractional Response Model: Estimating Heterogeneous Relative Risk Aversion of European Households," IWH Discussion Papers 11/2015, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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