We explore empirically whether earnings uncertainty and borrowing constraints deter households from the stockmarket, consistent with the predictions of theoretical studies of portfolio choice in the presence of uninsurable earnings. Recent extensions highlight the importance of the correlation between earnings and financial risks. We use a self-assessed proxy for the correlation from the DELTA-TNS 2002 cross-sectional survey. While income risk does not deter from the stockmarket those households' reporting a negative correlation, it does for those who report a non-negative sign, consistent with economic theory predictions.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.