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The Asset Portfolios of Native-Born and Foreign-Born Households

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  • Cobb-Clark, Deborah A.

    (University of Sydney)

  • Hildebrand, Vincent A.

    (York University, Canada)

Abstract

This paper analyses the net worth and asset portfolios of native- and foreign-born Australian families using HILDA (wave 2) data. Specifically, we estimate a system of asset equations with an adding-up constraint imposed to control for variation in households’ total net worth. Our results indicate that after accounting for differences in human capital and income levels, single immigrants have a wealth advantage of almost $185,000 relative to single native-born individuals. Although the wealth gap between mixed and native-born couples is not statistically significant, immigrant-only couples have approximately $150,000 less wealth on average than native-born couples. Relative to equally wealthy native-born couples, immigrant-only couples hold substantially more of their wealth in their homes and less in the form of vehicles and financial assets. Mixed couples, on the other hand, allocate their wealth across assets in the same way as native-born couples.

Suggested Citation

  • Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Hildebrand, Vincent A., 2008. "The Asset Portfolios of Native-Born and Foreign-Born Households," IZA Discussion Papers 3304, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3304
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    Cited by:

    1. Gatina, Liliya, 2016. "Does money buy happiness? Financial and general well-being of immigrants in Australia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 91-105.
    2. Denise Doiron & Rochelle Guttmann, 2009. "Wealth Distributions of Migrant and Australian‐born Households," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 85(268), pages 32-45, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    wealth; immigrants; housing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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