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Borrowing costs and the demand for equity over the life cycle

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Steven J. Davis
Felix Kubler
Paul Willen

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Abstract

We construct a life-cycle model that delivers realistic behavior for both equity holdings and borrowings. The key model ingredient is a wedge between the cost of borrowing and the risk-free investment return. Borrowing can either raise or lower equity demand, depending on the cost of borrowing. A borrowing rate equal to the expected return on equity — which we show roughly matches the data — minimizes the demand for equity. Alternative models with no borrowing or limited borrowing at the risk-free rate cannot simultaneously fit empirical evidence on borrowing and equity holdings.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in its series Working Papers with number 05-7.

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Date of creation: 2005
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:05-7

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Keywords: Households - Economic aspects Investments

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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. Bovenberg, A Lans & Uhlig, Harald, 2006. "Pension Systems and the Allocation of Macroeconomic Risk," CEPR Discussion Papers 5949, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Igor Livshits & James MacGee & Michele Tertilt, 2003. "Consumer bankruptcy: a fresh start," Working Papers 617, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Fatih Guvenen, 2007. "An Empirical Investigation of Labor Income Processes," NBER Working Papers 13394, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Luca Benzoni & Pierre Collin-Dufresne & Robert S. Goldstein, 2007. "Portfolio choice over the life-cycle when the stock and labor markets are cointegrated," Working Paper Series WP-07-11, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  5. Yannis Bilias & Michael Haliassos, 2004. "The Distribution of Gains from Access to Stocks," CSEF Working Papers 125, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Salerno, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  6. Maarten van Rooij & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob Alessie, 2007. "Financial Literacy and Stock Market Participation," Working Papers 07-23, Utrecht School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Paul Willen & Felix Kubler, 2006. "Collateralized borrowing and life-cycle portfolio choice," Public Policy Discussion Paper 06-4, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Gomes, Francisco J & Michaelides, Alexander, 2007. "Asset Pricing with Limited Risk Sharing and Heterogeneous Agents," CEPR Discussion Papers 6136, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Erik Hurst & Paul Willen, 2004. "Social Security and Unsecured Debt," NBER Working Papers 10282, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. James X. Sullivan, 2005. "Borrowing during unemployment: unsecured debt as a safety net," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Apr. [Downloadable!]
  11. John Karl Scholz & Ananth Seshadri & Surachai Khitatrakun, 2004. "Are Americans Saving "Optimally" for Retirement?," NBER Working Papers 10260, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Liran Einav & Amy Finkelstein & Paul Schrimpf, 2007. "The Welfare Cost of Asymmetric Information: Evidence from the U.K. Annuity Market," NBER Working Papers 13228, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Fatih Guvenen & Burhanettin Kuruscu, 2007. "A Quantitative Analysis of the Evolution of the U.S. Wage Distribution: 1970-2000," NBER Working Papers 13095, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Fatih Guvenen, 2005. "Learning Your Earning: Are Labor Income Shocks Really Very Persistent?," Macroeconomics 0507004, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Jaime Ruiz-Tagle, 2006. "Financial Markets Incompleteness and Inequality Over the Life-Cycle," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 405, Central Bank of Chile. [Downloadable!]
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