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Portfolio Allocation of Precautionary Assets: Panel Evidence for the United States

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Author Info
Atreya Chakraborty () (Brandeis University)
Mark Kazarosian () (Boston College)

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Abstract

Economic theory predicts that earnings uncertainty increases precautionary saving and causes households to include relatively liquid assets in their portfolios. Risk avoidance and the demand for liquidity cause these portfolio choices. Studies investigating United States evidence of precautionary portfolio allocation are nonexistent. With panel data, our results confirm the precautionary motive, and indicate that the desire to moderate total exposure to risk (temperance) and the demand for liquidity each affect the household's portfolio. Both permanent and transitory earnings uncertainty boost total wealth, and this precautionary wealth tends to be invested in safe, liquid assets. These results are particularly pronounced for people facing borrowing constraints. Such behavior is consistent with consumer utility functions that exhibit decreasing absolute risk aversion and decreasing strength of the precautionary motive (prudence). Our findings are important because both unemployment compensation and income taxes provide insurance that reduce earnings uncertainty. As a result, precautionary saving is both curtailed and reallocated. These policies could have large effects on capital formation and interest rates, through changes in the composition of household asset demand.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Boston College Department of Economics in its series Boston College Working Papers in Economics with number 432.

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Length: 37 pages
Date of creation: 30 Aug 1999
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:432

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Related research
Keywords: Precautionary Motive; Portfolio Allocation; Panel Data; Uncertainty; Prudence; Temperance; Liquidity Constraints;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
D91 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice and Growth - - - Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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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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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. 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!]
  2. Hochguertel, S., 1997. "Precautionary motives and portfolio decisions," Discussion Paper 55, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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