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Inequality, stock market participation, and the equity premium

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  • Favilukis, Jack
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    Abstract

    The last 30 years saw substantial increases in wealth inequality and stock market participation, smaller increases in consumption inequality and the fraction of indebted households, a decline in interest rates and the expected equity premium, as well as a prolonged stock market boom. In an incomplete markets, overlapping generations model I jointly explain these trends by the observed rise in wage inequality, decrease in participation costs, and loosening of borrowing constraints. After accounting for these changes, I show that the stock market played a major role in increasing wealth inequality. Crucially, these phenomena must be considered jointly; studying one independently leads to counterfactual predictions about others.

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    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X12002206
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    Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Financial Economics.

    Volume (Year): 107 (2013)
    Issue (Month): 3 ()
    Pages: 740-759

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    Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:107:y:2013:i:3:p:740-759
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2012.10.008
    Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505576

    Keywords: Inequality; Asset returns; Stock market participation;

    Find related papers by JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

    References listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Kosuke Aoki & Alexander Michaelides & Kalin Nikolov, 2016. "Household Portfolios in a Secular Stagnation World: Evidence from Japan," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 16-E-4, Bank of Japan.
    2. Gunnar Gutsche & Bernhard Zwergel, 2016. "Information barriers and SRI market participation – Can sustainability and transparency labels help?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201624, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    3. Marcin Kacperczyk & Jaromir B. Nosal & Luminita Stevens, 2014. "Investor Sophistication and Capital Income Inequality," NBER Working Papers 20246, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Felipe S. Iachan & Plamen T. Nenov & Alp Simsek, 2015. "The Choice Channel of Financial Innovation," NBER Working Papers 21686, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Lubos Pastor & Pietro Veronesi, 2015. "Income Inequality and Asset Prices under Redistributive Taxation," NBER Working Papers 21668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Sydney Ludvigson & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Jack Favilukis, 2012. "Foreign Ownership of U.S. Safe Assets: Good or Bad?," 2012 Meeting Papers 297, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Christina Christou & Rangan Gupta & Fredj Jawadi, 2017. "Does Inequality Help in Forecasting Equity Premium in a Panel of G7 Countries?," Working Papers 201720, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    8. Pástor, Lˇuboš & Veronesi, Pietro, 2016. "Income inequality and asset prices under redistributive taxation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-20.

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