This paper generalizes Deaton's (1991) approach to saving under borrowing constraints to incorporate portfolio choice. For infinite horizon, impatient consumers, effects of risk aversion, prudence and temperance on portfolios can be different from those obtained in atemporal models. We confirm the surprising result of portfolio specialization in stocks (Heaton and Lucas, 1997) using a different earnings process, and we provide a rationale for why risk aversion and habit persistence cannot reverse it. We then show that positive correlation of stock returns with permanent, but not transitory, earnings shocks can generate demand for bonds and zero stockholding. However, existing empirical estimates of such correlations are at variance with portfolio data. We offer an alternative explanation of observed stock holding patterns based on fixed stock market entry costs. The entry cost required to keep impatient households out of the stock market is surprisingly small. This suggests that entry costs could generate the observed reluctance of households to undertake stockholding and explain the slowness in the emergence of an ``equity culture'' among households.
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Length: Date of creation: 05 Jul 2000 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:sce:scecf0:297
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Michael Haliassos & Alexander Michaelides, 2003.
"Portfolio Choice and Liquidity Constraints,"
International Economic Review,
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(1), pages 143-177, February.
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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.:
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Jonathan A. Parker, 1999.
"Consumption Over the Life Cycle,"
NBER Working Papers
7271, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Jonathan A. Parker, 2002.
"Consumption Over the Life Cycle,"
Econometrica,
Econometric Society, vol. 70(1), pages 47-89, January.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Kimball, Miles S, 1993.
"Standard Risk Aversion,"
Econometrica,
Econometric Society, vol. 61(3), pages 589-611, May.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
Michael Haliassos & Alexander Michaelides, 2003.
"Portfolio Choice and Liquidity Constraints,"
International Economic Review,
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(1), pages 143-177, February.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Haliassos, Michael & Bertaut, Carol C, 1995.
"Why Do So Few Hold Stocks?,"
Economic Journal,
Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(432), pages 1110-29, September.
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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.) This item has more than 25 citations. To prevent cluttering this page, these citations are listed on a separate page.