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The Evolution of Aggregate Stock Ownership---A Unified Explanation

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  • Rydqvist, Kristian
  • Strebulaev, Ilya
  • Spizman, Joshua

Abstract

Since World War II, direct stock ownership by households has largely been replaced by indirect stock ownership by financial institutions. We argue that tax policy is the driving force. Using long time-series from eight countries, we show that the fraction of household ownership decreases with measures of the tax benefits of holding stocks inside a pension plan. This finding is important for policy considerations on effective taxation and for financial economics research on the long-term effects of taxation on corporate finance and asset prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Rydqvist, Kristian & Strebulaev, Ilya & Spizman, Joshua, 2009. "The Evolution of Aggregate Stock Ownership---A Unified Explanation," CEPR Discussion Papers 7356, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7356
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    Cited by:

    1. Magnus Henrekson & Tino Sanandaji, 2011. "Entrepreneurship and the theory of taxation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 167-185, September.
    2. Greenwood, Robin & Thesmar, David, 2011. "Stock price fragility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 471-490.
    3. Henrekson, Magnus & Stenkula, Mikael, 2009. "Entrepreneurship and Public Policy," Working Paper Series 804, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    4. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula, 2010. "Taxation, Labor Market Policy and High-Impact Entrepreneurship," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 275-296, September.
    5. Stepanchuk, Serhiy & Tsyrennikov, Viktor, 2015. "Portfolio and welfare consequences of debt market dominance," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 89-101.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bracket creep; Capital gains tax; Income tax; inflation; Pension funds; Stock ownership;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General

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