IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jmoncb/v46y2014i8p1687-1720.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heterogeneous Background Risks and Portfolio Choice: Evidence from Micro‐level Data

Author

Listed:
  • DARIUS PALIA
  • YAXUAN QI
  • YANGRU WU

Abstract

We construct a set of household‐level background risk variables to capture the covariance structure of three nonfinancial assets and two financial assets. These risks are in general statistically significant and economically important for a household's stock market participation and stockholdings. A one‐standard‐deviation increase in background risks reduces the participation probability by 11% and the stockholdings‐to‐wealth ratio by 4%. The volatilities of labor income, housing value, and business income reduce a household's participation and stockholdings. A household with labor income highly correlated with stock (bond) returns is less (more) likely to invest in stock.

Suggested Citation

  • Darius Palia & Yaxuan Qi & Yangru Wu, 2014. "Heterogeneous Background Risks and Portfolio Choice: Evidence from Micro‐level Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(8), pages 1687-1720, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:46:y:2014:i:8:p:1687-1720
    DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.12163
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jmcb.12163
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jmcb.12163?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Constantinides, George M & Duffie, Darrell, 1996. "Asset Pricing with Heterogeneous Consumers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(2), pages 219-240, April.
    2. Luca Benzoni & Pierre Collin‐Dufresne & Robert S. Goldstein, 2007. "Portfolio Choice over the Life‐Cycle when the Stock and Labor Markets Are Cointegrated," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2123-2167, October.
    3. Krueger, Dirk & Lustig, Hanno, 2010. "When is market incompleteness irrelevant for the price of aggregate risk (and when is it not)?," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(1), pages 1-41, January.
    4. Ravi Jagannathan & Narayana R. Kocherlakota, 1996. "Why should older people invest less in stock than younger people?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 20(Sum), pages 11-23.
    5. Guo, Hui, 2004. "Limited Stock Market Participation and Asset Prices in a Dynamic Economy," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(3), pages 495-516, September.
    6. Xiaohong Angerer & Pok‐Sang Lam, 2009. "Income Risk and Portfolio Choice: An Empirical Study," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 1037-1055, April.
    7. Orosel, Gerhard O, 1998. "Participation Costs, Trend Chasing, and Volatility of Stock Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(3), pages 521-557.
    8. Guiso, Luigi & Jappelli, Tullio & Terlizzese, Daniele, 1996. "Income Risk, Borrowing Constraints, and Portfolio Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 158-172, March.
    9. Joao F. Cocco, 2005. "Portfolio Choice in the Presence of Housing," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 535-567.
    10. Bodie, Zvi & Merton, Robert C. & Samuelson, William F., 1992. "Labor supply flexibility and portfolio choice in a life cycle model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 16(3-4), pages 427-449.
    11. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    12. John H. Cochrane (ed.), 2006. "Financial Markets and the Real Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2923.
    13. Heaton, John & Lucas, Deborah J, 1996. "Evaluating the Effects of Incomplete Markets on Risk Sharing and Asset Pricing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(3), pages 443-487, June.
    14. John Heaton & Deborah Lucas, 2000. "Portfolio Choice and Asset Prices: The Importance of Entrepreneurial Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1163-1198, June.
    15. Joao F. Cocco, 2005. "Consumption and Portfolio Choice over the Life Cycle," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 491-533.
    16. Ball, S., 2007. "Stock market participation, portfolio choice and pensions over the life-cycle," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0707, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    17. Stephen G. Dimmock, 2012. "Background Risk and University Endowment Funds," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 789-799, August.
    18. William Goetzmann & Eduardas Valaitis, 2006. "Simulating Real Estate in the Investment Portfolio: Model Uncertainty and Inflation Hedging," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2476, Yale School of Management, revised 01 May 2006.
    19. Rui Yao, 2005. "Optimal Consumption and Portfolio Choices with Risky Housing and Borrowing Constraints," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 197-239.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yongsung Chang & Jay Hong & Marios Karabarbounis & Yicheng Wang & Tao Zhang, 2022. "Income Volatility and Portfolio Choices," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 44, pages 65-90, April.
    2. Laurent E. Calvet & Paolo Sodini, 2014. "Twin Picks: Disentangling the Determinants of Risk-Taking in Household Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(2), pages 867-906, April.
    3. Christoph Basten & Andreas Fagereng & Kjetil Telle, 2016. "Saving and Portfolio Allocation Before and After Job Loss," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(2-3), pages 293-324, March.
    4. Guo, Naijia & Leung, Charles Ka Yui & Zhang, Shumeng, 2025. "From pandemics to portfolios: Long-term impacts of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak on household investment choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    5. Hubar, Sylwia & Koulovatianos, Christos & Li, Jian, 2020. "The role of labor-income risk in household risk-taking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    6. Suen, Richard M.H., 2018. "Standard risk aversion and efficient risk sharing," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 23-26.
    7. Guiso, Luigi & Pistaferri, Luigi & Fagereng, Andreas, 2016. "Back to background risk?," CEPR Discussion Papers 11051, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Ellora Derenoncourt & Chi Hyun Kim & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick, 2023. "Unemployment Risk, Portfolio Choice, and the Racial Wealth Gap," Working Papers 332, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    9. Brown, Sarah & Gray, Daniel & Harris, Mark N. & Spencer, Christopher, 2016. "Portfolio Allocation, Income Uncertainty and Households' Flight from Risk," IZA Discussion Papers 10408, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Yongsung Chang & Jay Hong & Marios Karabarbounis & Yicheng Wang & Tao Zhang, 2022. "Income Volatility and Portfolio Choices," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 44, pages 65-90, April.
    11. Tsai, Hui-Ju & Wu, Yangru, 2014. "Optimal portfolio choice for investors with industry-specific labor income risks," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 429-436.
    12. Björn Bos & Moritz A. Drupp & Jasper N. Meya & Martin F. Quaas, 2023. "Financial Risk-Taking under Health Risk," CESifo Working Paper Series 10387, CESifo.
    13. Bender, Svetlana & Choi, James J. & Dyson, Danielle & Robertson, Adriana Z., 2022. "Millionaires speak: What drives their personal investment decisions?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 305-330.
    14. Gao, Xiang & Sun, Li, 2021. "Modeling retirees’ investment behaviors in the presence of health expenditure risk and financial crisis risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 442-454.
    15. Yun Ye & Yongjian Pu & Ailun Xiong, 2022. "The impact of digital finance on household participation in risky financial markets: Evidence-based study from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(4), pages 1-16, April.
    16. Brandtner, Mario, 2018. "Expected Shortfall, spectral risk measures, and the aggravating effect of background risk, or: risk vulnerability and the problem of subadditivity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 138-149.
    17. Stephen Snudden, 2024. "Idiosyncratic Asset Return and Wage Risk of US Households," LCERPA Working Papers jc0144, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis.
    18. Andrei Semenov, 2017. "Background risk in consumption and the equity risk premium," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 407-439, February.
    19. Beckmann, Elisabeth & Mare, Davide Salvatore, 2017. "Formal and informal household savings: how does trust in financial institutions influence the choice of saving instruments?," MPRA Paper 81141, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Andreas Fagereng & Luigi Guiso & Luigi Pistaferri, 2018. "Portfolio Choices, Firm Shocks, and Uninsurable Wage Risk," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(1), pages 437-474.
    21. Yan Liu & Quaner Wen & Abbas Ali Chandio & Long Chen & Lu Gan, 2022. "Investment Risk Analysis for Green and Sustainable Planning of Rural Family: A Case Study of Tibetan Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, September.
    22. James J. Choi & Adriana Z. Robertson, 2020. "What Matters to Individual Investors? Evidence from the Horse's Mouth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1965-2020, August.
    23. Kong, Dongmin & Cheng, Yawen & Liu, Shasha, 2021. "Unexpected housing wealth appreciation and stock market participation," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    24. Brown, Sarah & Gray, Daniel & Harris, Mark N. & Spencer, Christopher, 2021. "Household portfolio allocation, uncertainty, and risk," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 96-117.
    25. Yuan, Hongmin & Ouyang, Yanmin & Li, Yuxiang, 2024. "Local earthquakes and households’ risk-taking: Evidence from the China Household Finance Survey," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

    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. Guiso, Luigi & Sodini, Paolo, 2013. "Household Finance: An Emerging Field," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1397-1532, Elsevier.
    2. Fabio C. Bagliano & Carolina Fugazza & Giovanna Nicodano, 2014. "Optimal Life-Cycle Portfolios for Heterogeneous Workers," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(6), pages 2283-2323.
    3. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    4. Laurent E. Calvet & Paolo Sodini, 2014. "Twin Picks: Disentangling the Determinants of Risk-Taking in Household Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(2), pages 867-906, April.
    5. Andrei Semenov, 2017. "Background risk in consumption and the equity risk premium," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 407-439, February.
    6. Christensen, Peter Ove & Larsen, Kasper & Munk, Claus, 2012. "Equilibrium in securities markets with heterogeneous investors and unspanned income risk," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 1035-1063.
    7. Nicholas Apergis & Tasawar Hayat & Tareq Saeed, 2019. "The Role of Happiness in Financial Decisions: Evidence from Financial Portfolio Choice and Five European Countries," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 47(3), pages 343-360, September.
    8. Luca Benzoni & Pierre Collin‐Dufresne & Robert S. Goldstein, 2007. "Portfolio Choice over the Life‐Cycle when the Stock and Labor Markets Are Cointegrated," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2123-2167, October.
    9. Nicholas Apergis & Christos Bouras, 2023. "Household choices on investing in financial risky assets: Do national institutional factors have their own merit?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 405-420, January.
    10. Holger Kraft & Claus Munk & Sebastian Wagner, 2018. "Housing Habits and Their Implications for Life-Cycle Consumption and Investment [The evolution of homeownership rates in selected OECD countries: demographic and public policy influences]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(5), pages 1737-1762.
    11. Andreas Fagereng & Luigi Guiso & Luigi Pistaferri, 2016. "Back to Background Risk," EIEF Working Papers Series 1602, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Jan 2016.
    12. Munk, Claus, 2020. "A mean-variance benchmark for household portfolios over the life cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    13. Luca Benzoni & Pierre Collin-Dufresne & Robert S. Goldstein, 2005. "Portfolio Choice over the Life-Cycle in the Presence of 'Trickle Down' Labor Income," NBER Working Papers 11247, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Betermier, Sebastien & Jansson, Thomas & Parlour, Christine & Walden, Johan, 2012. "Hedging labor income risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 622-639.
    15. Marekwica, Marcel & Schaefer, Alexander & Sebastian, Steffen, 2013. "Life cycle asset allocation in the presence of housing and tax-deferred investing," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1110-1125.
    16. Roine Vestman, 2019. "Limited Stock Market Participation Among Renters and Homeowners," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(4), pages 1494-1535.
    17. Tong-yob Nam, 2021. "Geographic Heterogeneity in Housing Market Risk and Portfolio Choice," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 508-547, May.
    18. Huaxiong Huang & Moshe A. Milevsky & Jin Wang, 2008. "Portfolio Choice and Life Insurance: The CRRA Case," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 847-872, December.
    19. Chen, Xuanjuan & Sun, Zhenzhen & Yao, Tong & Yu, Tong, 2020. "Does operating risk affect portfolio risk? Evidence from insurers' securities holding," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Otto Van Hemert, 2010. "Household Interest Rate Risk Management," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 467-505, September.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jmoncb:v:46:y:2014:i:8:p:1687-1720. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-2879 .

    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.