IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/italej/v9y2023i1d10.1007_s40797-021-00172-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Risk Aversion and the Size of Desired Debt

Author

Listed:
  • Elena Lagomarsino

    (University of Padua)

  • Alessandro Spiganti

    (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

Abstract

We investigate the determinants of the level of desired total, secured, and unsecured debt for a panel of Italian households over the period 1989–2016, accounting for both left censoring and sample selection. In particular, we focus on the role of households’ attitudes towards risks, using both their observed behaviour in the financial market and the responses to a hypothetical lottery choice question. We find risk aversion to be a significant determinant of the desired amount of unsecured, secured, and total debt. Relatively more risk adverse households desire more debt, suggesting that Italian households may rely on debt to insure themselves against shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena Lagomarsino & Alessandro Spiganti, 2023. "Risk Aversion and the Size of Desired Debt," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(1), pages 369-396, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:italej:v:9:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s40797-021-00172-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s40797-021-00172-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40797-021-00172-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40797-021-00172-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Browning & Annamaria Lusardi, 1996. "Household Saving: Micro Theories and Micro Facts," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(4), pages 1797-1855, December.
    2. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2010. "Are Risk Aversion and Impatience Related to Cognitive Ability?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 1238-1260, June.
    3. repec:bla:buecrs:v:64:y:2012:i::p:s193-s209 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Reint Gropp & John Karl Scholz & Michelle J. White, 1997. "Personal Bankruptcy and Credit Supply and Demand," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 217-251.
    5. Gandelman, Néstor & Hernández-Murillo, Rubén, 2013. "What do happiness and health satisfaction data tell us about relative risk aversion?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 301-312.
    6. Schmitz, Hendrik, 2011. "Direct evidence of risk aversion as a source of advantageous selection in health insurance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 180-182.
    7. Dimitris Georgarakos & Michael Haliassos & Giacomo Pasini, 2014. "Household Debt and Social Interactions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(5), pages 1404-1433.
    8. Ana del Rio & Garry Young, 2006. "The determinants of unsecured borrowing: evidence from the BHPS," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(15), pages 1119-1144.
    9. Lusardi, Annamaria & Tufano, Peter, 2015. "Debt literacy, financial experiences, and overindebtedness," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 332-368, October.
    10. Maria De Paola & Francesca Gioia, 2012. "Risk Aversion And Field Of Study Choice: The Role Of Individual Ability," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(Supplemen), pages 193-209, December.
    11. Anderson, Lisa R. & Mellor, Jennifer M., 2008. "Predicting health behaviors with an experimental measure of risk preference," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1260-1274, September.
    12. Daniel Pollmann & Thomas Dohmen & Franz Palm, 2020. "Robust Estimation of Wage Dispersion with Censored Data: An Application to Occupational Earnings Risk and Risk Attitudes," De Economist, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 519-540, December.
    13. James X. Sullivan, 2008. "Borrowing During Unemployment: Unsecured Debt as a Safety Net," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(2), pages 383-412.
    14. Matthew Rabin, 2000. "Risk Aversion and Expected-Utility Theory: A Calibration Theorem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(5), pages 1281-1292, September.
    15. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk, 2011. "Performance Pay and Multidimensional Sorting: Productivity, Preferences, and Gender," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(2), pages 556-590, April.
    16. David A. Jaeger & Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde & Holger Bonin, 2010. "Direct Evidence on Risk Attitudes and Migration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(3), pages 684-689, August.
    17. Checchi, Daniele & Fiorio, Carlo V. & Leonardi, Marco, 2013. "Intergenerational persistence of educational attainment in Italy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 229-232.
    18. Cox, Donald & Jappelli, Tullio, 1993. "The Effect of Borrowing Constraints on Consumer Liabilities," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 25(2), pages 197-213, May.
    19. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    20. Ted O'Donoghue & Jason Somerville, 2018. "Modeling Risk Aversion in Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 91-114, Spring.
    21. Barbara Cavalletti & Corrado Lagazio & Elena Lagomarsino & Daniela Vandone, 2020. "Consumer Debt and Financial Fragility: Evidence from Italy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 747-765, December.
    22. Benjamin J. Keys, 2018. "The Credit Market Consequences of Job Displacement," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(3), pages 405-415, July.
    23. Martin Browning & Thomas F. Crossley, 2009. "Shocks, Stocks, and Socks: Smoothing Consumption Over a Temporary Income Loss," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(6), pages 1169-1192, December.
    24. Francisco Gomes & Alexander Michaelides, 2005. "Optimal Life‐Cycle Asset Allocation: Understanding the Empirical Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 869-904, April.
    25. Pence Karen M., 2006. "The Role of Wealth Transformations: An Application to Estimating the Effect of Tax Incentives on Saving," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, July.
    26. Hurst, Erik & Stafford, Frank, 2004. "Home Is Where the Equity Is: Mortgage Refinancing and Household Consumption," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(6), pages 985-1014, December.
    27. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 1995. "Selection corrections for panel data models under conditional mean independence assumptions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 115-132, July.
    28. Caner, Asena & Okten, Cagla, 2010. "Risk and career choice: Evidence from Turkey," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1060-1075, December.
    29. Ekaterini Kyriazidou, 1997. "Estimation of a Panel Data Sample Selection Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(6), pages 1335-1364, November.
    30. Christy Spivey, 2010. "Desperation Or Desire? The Role Of Risk Aversion In Marriage," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(2), pages 499-516, April.
    31. Lucie Schmidt, 2008. "Risk preferences and the timing of marriage and childbearing," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(2), pages 439-460, May.
    32. Nikolaos Artavanis & Soumya Karra, 2020. "Financial literacy and student debt," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4-5), pages 382-401, March.
    33. Maria Paola & Francesca Gioia, 2017. "Does patience matter in marriage stability? Some evidence from Italy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 549-577, June.
    34. Silvia Magri, 2007. "Italian households’ debt: the participation to the debt market and the size of the loan," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 401-426, November.
    35. Ahn, Taehyun, 2010. "Attitudes toward risk and self-employment of young workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 434-442, April.
    36. Semykina, Anastasia & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2010. "Estimating panel data models in the presence of endogeneity and selection," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 157(2), pages 375-380, August.
    37. María Engracia Rochina-Barrachina, 1999. "A New Estimator for Panel Data Sample Selection Models," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 55-56, pages 153-181.
    38. repec:adr:anecst:y:1999:i:55-56:p:06 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. David Leece, 2000. "Choice of mortgage instrument, liquidity constraints and the demand for housing debt in the UK," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(9), pages 1121-1132.
    40. Joseph Eisenhauer & Luigi Ventura, 2003. "Survey measures of risk aversion and prudence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(13), pages 1477-1484.
    41. Chamberlain, Gary, 1982. "Multivariate regression models for panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 5-46, January.
    42. Castillo, Marco & Ferraro, Paul J. & Jordan, Jeffrey L. & Petrie, Ragan, 2011. "The today and tomorrow of kids: Time preferences and educational outcomes of children," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1377-1385.
    43. Thomas A. Becker, 2010. "Outstanding Debt and the Household Portfolio," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2900-2934, July.
    44. Hermansson, Cecilia, 2018. "Can self-assessed financial risk measures explain and predict bank customers’ objective financial risk?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 226-240.
    45. Brunello, Giorgio, 2002. "Absolute risk aversion and the returns to education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 635-640, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Paola & Francesca Gioia, 2017. "Does patience matter in marriage stability? Some evidence from Italy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 549-577, June.
    2. De Paola, Maria & Gioia, Francesca, 2013. "Does Patience Matter for Marriage Stability? Some Evidence from Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 7769, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Francesca Gioia, 2019. "Incentive schemes and peer effects on risk behaviour: an experiment," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 87(4), pages 473-495, November.
    4. Guastella, Gianni & Moro, Daniele & Sckokai, Paolo & Veneziani, Mario, 2014. "The capitalization of area payments into land rental prices: a panel sample selection approach," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 186375, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Gianni Guastella & Daniele Moro & Paolo Sckokai & Mario Veneziani, 2018. "The Capitalisation of CAP Payments into Land Rental Prices: A Panel Sample Selection Approach," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 688-704, September.
    6. Barbara Cavalletti & Corrado Lagazio & Elena Lagomarsino & Daniela Vandone, 2020. "Consumer Debt and Financial Fragility: Evidence from Italy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 747-765, December.
    7. Jia, Lili, 2012. "Land fragmentation and off-farm labor supply in China," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 66, number 66.
    8. Wladimir Raymond & Pierre Mohnen & Franz Palm & Sybrand Schim van der Loeff, 2007. "The Behavior of the Maximum Likelihood Estimator of Dynamic Panel Data Sample Selection Models," CIRANO Working Papers 2007s-06, CIRANO.
    9. Moro, D. & Guastella, G. & Sckokai, P. & Veneziani, M., 2013. "The Capitalization of Area Payment into Land Rental Prices: Micro-evidence from Italy," 2013 Second Congress, June 6-7, 2013, Parma, Italy 149746, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    10. Inmaculada Garc�a Mainar & V�ctor M. Montuenga G�mez, 2004. "Returns to education and to experience within the EU: are there differences between wage earners and the self-employed?," Documentos de Trabajo dt2004-08, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza.
    11. Chirok Han & Goeun Lee, 2017. "Efficient Estimation of Linear Panel Data Models with Sample Selection and Fixed Effects," Discussion Paper Series 1707, Institute of Economic Research, Korea University.
    12. Massimiliano Affinito & Raffaele Santioni & Luca Tomassetti, 2023. "Inside household debt: disentangling mortgages and consumer credit, and household and bank factors. Evidence from Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 788, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    13. Adrian (Waikong) Cheung & May Hu & Jörg Schwiebert, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility and dividend policy," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(3), pages 787-816, September.
    14. Elena Lagomarsino & Alessandro Spiganti, 2020. "No gain in pain: psychological well-being, participation, and wages in the BHPS," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(9), pages 1375-1389, December.
    15. Güzin Bayar, 2018. "Estimating export equations: a survey of the literature," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 629-672, March.
    16. Barbara CAVALLETTI & Corrado LAGAZIO & Daniela VANDONE & Elena LAGOMARSINO, 2014. "Consumer debt and financial fragility in Italy," Departmental Working Papers 2014-08, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    17. Alain Trognon, 2003. "L'économétrie des panels en perspective," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 113(6), pages 727-748.
    18. D'Addio, Anna Cristina & De Greef, Isabelle & Rosholm, Michael, 2002. "Assessing Unemployment Traps in Belgium Using Panel Data Sample Selection Models," IZA Discussion Papers 669, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Barbara CAVALLETTI & Corrado LAGAZIO & Daniela VANDONE, 2008. "Il credito al consumo in Italia: benessere economico o fragilita’ finanziaria?," Departmental Working Papers 2008-24, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    20. Alyssa Carlson & Riju Joshi, 2024. "Sample selection in linear panel data models with heterogeneous coefficients," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 237-255, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Risk aversion; Desired indebtedness; Selection bias; Censoring; Household panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:italej:v:9:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s40797-021-00172-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.