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Awareness and Stock Market Participation

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Author Info
Luigi Guiso () (University of Sassari, Ente Luigi Einaudi and CEPR)
Tullio Jappelli () (CSEF, Università di Salerno, and CEPR)

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Abstract

The extent to which consumers are aware of available financial assets depends on the incentives of asset suppliers to spread information about the instruments they issue. We propose a theoretical framework in which the amount of information disseminated and the probability of individuals becoming aware of financial assets are correlated with the probability that, once informed, they will invest in the asset and negatively affected by the cost of spreading information. Social learning is a further channel through which potential investors may come to be informed about existing assets. While social learning may limit the production of financial information by assets suppliers, it increases the probability that individuals become financially aware. These predictions are supported by data on awareness of financial assets available in the 1995 and 1998 waves of the Italian Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Lack of financial awareness has important implications for understanding the stockholding puzzle and for estimating stock market participation costs.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy in its series CSEF Working Papers with number 110.

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Date of creation: 01 Nov 2003
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Publication status: Published in Review of Finance, December 2005, vol. 9, issue 4, pages 537-567
Handle: RePEc:sef:csefwp:110

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Related research
Keywords: financial information; portfolio choice;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets

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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.:
  1. Monica Paiella, 2001. "Limited financial market participation: a transaction cost-based explanation," IFS Working Papers W01/06, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Mervyn A. King & Jonathan I. Leape, 1987. "Asset Accumulation, Information, and the Life Cycle," NBER Working Papers 2392, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  4. Basak, Suleyman & Cuoco, Domenico, 1998. "An Equilibrium Model with Restricted Stock Market Participation," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(2), pages 309-41.
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    Other versions:
  7. Verrecchia, Robert E, 1982. "Information Acquisition in a Noisy Rational Expectations Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1415-30, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Luigi Guiso & Tullio Jappelli, 2000. "Household Portfolios in Italy," CSEF Working Papers 43, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Mark Grinblatt, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Joao F. Cocco, 2005. "Consumption and Portfolio Choice over the Life Cycle," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 491-533. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Erzo G. J. Luttmer, 1999. "What Level of Fixed Costs Can Reconcile Consumption and Stock Returns?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(5), pages 969-997, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Fatih Guvenen, 2005. "Reconciling Conflicting Evidence on the Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution: A Macroeconomic Perspective," Macroeconomics 0507005, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Karen E. Dynan & Dean M. Maki, 2001. "Does stock market wealth matter for consumption?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2001-23, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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Full references

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. Raffaele Miniaci & Sergio Pastorello, 2008. "Mean-Variance Econometric Analysis of Household Portfolios," Working Papers 0807, University of Brescia, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2005. "Trusting the Stock Market," NBER Working Papers 11648, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Ari Hyytinen & Tuomas Takalo, 2004. "Multihoming in the Market for Payment Media: Evidence from Young Finnish Consumers," Discussion Papers 893, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. John Y. Campbell, 2006. "Household Finance," NBER Working Papers 12149, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Dimitris Christelis & Dimitris Georgarakos & Michael Haliassos, 2009. "Stockholding: From Participation to Location and to Participation Spillovers," CFS Working Paper Series 2009/02, Center for Financial Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Maarten van Rooij & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob Alessie, 2007. "Financial Literacy and Stock Market Participation," Working Papers 07-23, Utrecht School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Hyytinen, Ari & Takalo, Tuomas, 2008. "Consumer awareness and the use of payment media: evidence from young Finnish consumers," Research Discussion Papers 2/2008, Bank of Finland. [Downloadable!]
  8. Giofré, Maela/M., 2008. "Bias in foreign equity portfolios: households versus professional investors," MPRA Paper 13929, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  9. Dimitrios Christelis & Dimitris Georgarakos, 2008. "Investing at Home and Abroad: Different Costs, Different People?," CSEF Working Papers 188, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  10. Charlotte Christiansen & Juanna Schröter Joensen & Jesper Rangvid, 2007. "Are Economists More Likely to Hold Stocks?," CREATES Research Papers 2007-08, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Christiansen, Charlotte & Joensen, Juanna Schröter & Rangvid, Jesper, 2005. "Do More Economists Hold Stocks?," Finance Research Group Working Papers F-2005-02, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Business Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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