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Household wealth accumulation and portfolio choices in Korea

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  • Cho, Sang-Wook (Stanley)

Abstract

This paper constructs a quantitative lifecycle model with uninsurable labor income and housing return risk to investigate how Korean households make saving and portfolio decisions. The model not only incorporates the special roles housing plays in the portfolio of households: collateral, a source of service flows, as well as a source of potential capital gains or losses, but also adds to existing models of wealth accumulation some unique institutional features present in Korea, namely the rental system ('chonsae') and the lack of a mortgage system. When the model is calibrated to match the Korean economy, several key features of the data are better able to be reproduced. The paper also analyzes the role of institutional features by comparing several alternative housing market arrangements to assess their impact on wealth accumulation, portfolio choices, and homeownership. A 10 percentage points reduction in down-payment requirement is associated with approximately 1 percentage point increase in the aggregate homeownership ratio in Korea. Lower down-payment also increases the fraction of aggregate wealth held in housing assets but lowers aggregate net worth with mixed demographic implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Cho, Sang-Wook (Stanley), 2010. "Household wealth accumulation and portfolio choices in Korea," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 13-25, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhouse:v:19:y:2010:i:1:p:13-25
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    Cited by:

    1. Cho, Sang-Wook (Stanley) & Francis, Johanna L., 2011. "Tax treatment of owner occupied housing and wealth inequality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 42-60, March.
    2. Moon, Byunggeor, 2018. "Housing investment, default risk, and expectations: Focusing on the chonsei market in Korea," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 80-90.
    3. Kim, Jinwon, 2013. "Financial repression and housing investment: An analysis of the Korean chonsei," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 338-358.
    4. Kim, Daehwan & Nilsen, Jeffrey, 2021. "Testing the presence of borrowing constraints from consumption responses to housing deposit changes," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Knapp, David & Lopez Garcia, Italo & Kumar, Krishna & Lee, Jinkook & Won, Jongwook, 2021. "A dynamic behavioral model of Korean saving, work, and benefit claiming decisions," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Lifecycle model Wealth Housing Homeownership Korea;

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

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