IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-02311924.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Health and portfolio choices : a diffidence approach

Author

Listed:
  • David Crainich

    (EM - EMLyon Business School)

  • Louis Eeckhoudt
  • Olivier Le Courtois

Abstract

The effect of health status on portfolio decisions has been extensively studied from an empirical viewpoint. In this paper, we propose a theoretical model of individuals' choice of financial assets under bivariate utility functions depending on wealth and health. Our approach makes an extensive use of the diffidence theorem. We establish the conditions under which the share of wealth held in risky assets falls as: 1) individuals' health status deteriorates and; 2) individuals' health status becomes risky. These conditions are shown to be related to the behaviour of the intensities of correlation aversion and of cross prudence as wealth increases.

Suggested Citation

  • David Crainich & Louis Eeckhoudt & Olivier Le Courtois, 2017. "Health and portfolio choices : a diffidence approach," Post-Print hal-02311924, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02311924
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paroush, Jacob, 1975. "Risk premium with many commodities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 283-286, October.
    2. Modica, Salvatore & Scarsini, Marco, 2005. "A note on comparative downside risk aversion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 267-271, June.
    3. Eeckhoudt, Louis & Schlesinger, Harris, 2009. "On the utility premium of Friedman and Savage," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 46-48, October.
    4. EECKHOUDT, Louis, 2012. "Beyond risk aversion: why, how and what's next?," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2514, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    5. Denuit, Michel M. & Eeckhoudt, Louis, 2010. "Stronger measures of higher-order risk attitudes," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(5), pages 2027-2036, September.
    6. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7344 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. 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.
    8. David A. Love & Paul A. Smith, 2010. "Does health affect portfolio choice?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(12), pages 1441-1460, December.
    9. Dardanoni, Valentino & Wagstaff, Adam, 1990. "Uncertainty and the demand for medical care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 23-38, June.
    10. Elmendorf, Douglas W & Kimball, Miles S, 2000. "Taxation of Labor Income and the Demand for Risky Assets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(3), pages 801-833, August.
    11. Louis Eeckhoudt & Harris Schlesinger, 2006. "Putting Risk in Its Proper Place," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 280-289, March.
    12. Pratt, John W & Zeckhauser, Richard J, 1987. "Proper Risk Aversion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 143-154, January.
    13. Malevergne, Y. & Rey, B., 2009. "On cross-risk vulnerability," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 224-229, October.
    14. Rosen, H.S.Harvey S. & Wu, Stephen, 2004. "Portfolio choice and health status," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 457-484, June.
    15. Louis Eeckhoudt, 2012. "Beyond Risk Aversion: Why, How and What's Next?*," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(2), pages 141-155, September.
    16. Scott F. Richard, 1975. "Multivariate Risk Aversion, Utility Independence and Separable Utility Functions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 12-21, September.
    17. Crainich, David & Eeckhoudt, Louis & Le Courtois, Olivier, 2014. "Decreasing downside risk aversion and background risk," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 59-63.
    18. David Crainich & Louis Eeckhoudt, 2008. "On the intensity of downside risk aversion," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 267-276, June.
    19. Eeckhoudt, Louis & Gollier, Christian & Schlesinger, Harris, 1996. "Changes in Background Risk and Risk-Taking Behavior," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(3), pages 683-689, May.
    20. Antoine Bommier, 2007. "Risk Aversion, Intertemporal Elasticity of Substitution and Correlation Aversion," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(29), pages 1-8.
    21. Edwards, Ryan D, 2008. "Health Risk and Portfolio Choice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 26, pages 472-485.
    22. Ross, Stephen A, 1981. "Some Stronger Measures of Risk Aversion in the Small and the Large with Applications," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(3), pages 621-638, May.
    23. Louis Eeckhoudt & Béatrice Rey & Harris Schlesinger, 2007. "A Good Sign for Multivariate Risk Taking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(1), pages 117-124, January.
    24. Machina, Mark J & Neilson, William S, 1987. "The Ross Characterization of Risk Aversion: Strengthening and Extension," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(5), pages 1139-1149, September.
    25. James M. Poterba & Andrew Samwick, 2001. "Household Portfolio Allocation over the Life Cycle," NBER Chapters, in: Aging Issues in the United States and Japan, pages 65-104, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. Julie Agnew & Pierluigi Balduzzi & Annika Sundén, 2003. "Portfolio Choice and Trading in a Large 401(k) Plan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 193-215, March.
    27. Denuit, Michel & Rey, Béatrice, 2010. "Prudence, temperance, edginess, and risk apportionment as decreasing sensitivity to detrimental changes," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 137-143, September.
    28. Jouini, Elyès & Napp, Clotilde & Nocetti, Diego, 2013. "On multivariate prudence," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(3), pages 1255-1267.
    29. Denuit, Michel & Eeckhoudt, Louis, 2010. "Stronger measures of higher-order risk attitudes," LIDAM Discussion Papers ISBA 2010010, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
    30. Kihlstrom, Richard E. & Mirman, Leonard J., 1974. "Risk aversion with many commodities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 361-388, July.
    31. Israel Finkelshtain & James A. Chalfant, 1993. "Portfolio Choices in the Presence of Other Risks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(8), pages 925-936, August.
    32. Larry G. Epstein & Stephen M. Tanny, 1980. "Increasing Generalized Correlation: A Definition and Some Economic Consequences," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 13(1), pages 16-34, February.
    33. Luis M. Viceira, 2001. "Optimal Portfolio Choice for Long‐Horizon Investors with Nontradable Labor Income," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 433-470, April.
    34. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1969. "A Note on Behavior towards Risk with Many Commodities," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 262, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    35. Berkowitz, Michael K. & Qiu, Jiaping, 2006. "A further look at household portfolio choice and health status," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 1201-1217, April.
    36. Israel Finkelshtain & James A. Chalfant, 1991. "Marketed Surplus under Risk: Do Peasants Agree with Sandmo?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(3), pages 557-567.
    37. Liu, Liqun & Meyer, Jack, 2013. "Substituting one risk increase for another: A method for measuring risk aversion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(6), pages 2706-2718.
    38. Duncan, George T, 1977. "A Matrix Measure of Multivariate Local Risk Aversion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(4), pages 895-903, May.
    39. Karni, Edi, 1979. "On Multivariate Risk Aversion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(6), pages 1391-1401, November.
    40. Milton Friedman & L. J. Savage, 1948. "The Utility Analysis of Choices Involving Risk," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56, pages 279-279.
    41. Michel Denuit & Béatrice Rey, 2010. "Prudence, temperance, edginess, and risk apportionment as decreasing sensitivity to detrimental changes," Post-Print halshs-03353470, HAL.
    42. Gollier, Christian & Pratt, John W, 1996. "Risk Vulnerability and the Tempering Effect of Background Risk," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1109-1123, September.
    43. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1969. "Behavior Towards Risk with Many Commodities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(4), pages 660-667, October.
    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. Christian Gollier & Miles S. Kimball, 2018. "Toward a Systematic Approach to the Economic Effects of Risk: Characterizing Utility Functions," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 85(2), pages 397-430, June.
    2. Sylvie Démurger & Siwar Khelifa & Béatrice Rey, 2023. "Rural-urban migration as a risk coping strategy: The role of income differentials," IRENE Policy Reports 23-03, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    3. Sylvie Démurger & Siwar Khelifa & Béatrice Rey, 2023. "Rural-urban migration as a risk coping strategy: The role of income differentials," IRENE Working Papers 23-03, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    4. Crainich, David & Eeckhoudt, Louis & Courtois, Olivier Le, 2020. "Intensity of preferences for bivariate risk apportionment," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 153-160.

    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. Christoph Heinzel, 2014. "Term structure of discount rates under multivariate s-ordered consumption growth," Working Papers SMART 14-01, INRAE UMR SMART.
    2. Paan Jindapon & Liqun Liu & William S. Neilson, 2021. "Comparative risk apportionment," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 9(1), pages 91-112, April.
    3. Christian Gollier & James Hammitt & Nicolas Treich, 2013. "Risk and choice: A research saga," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 129-145, October.
    4. Jouini, Elyès & Napp, Clotilde & Nocetti, Diego, 2013. "On multivariate prudence," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(3), pages 1255-1267.
    5. Li, Jingyuan & Liu, Liqun, 2014. "The monetary utility premium and interpersonal comparisons," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 257-260.
    6. Liu, Liqun & Meyer, Jack, 2013. "Substituting one risk increase for another: A method for measuring risk aversion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(6), pages 2706-2718.
    7. Heinzel, Christoph, 2023. "Comparing utility derivative premia under additive and multiplicative risks," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 23-40.
    8. Crainich, David & Eeckhoudt, Louis & Le Courtois, Olivier, 2014. "Decreasing downside risk aversion and background risk," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 59-63.
    9. Liqun Liu & Jack Meyer, 2013. "Normalized measures of concavity and Ross’s strongly more risk averse order," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 185-198, October.
    10. Dionne, Georges & Li, Jingyuan, 2014. "Comparative Ross risk aversion in the presence of mean dependent risks," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 128-135.
    11. David Crainich & Louis Eeckhoudt & Olivier Le Courtois, 2013. "An index of (absolute) correlation aversion: theory and some implications," Working Papers 2013-ECO-12, IESEG School of Management.
    12. Attema, Arthur E. & l’Haridon, Olivier & van de Kuilen, Gijs, 2019. "Measuring multivariate risk preferences in the health domain," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 15-24.
    13. Huang, James & Stapleton, Richard, 2015. "The utility premium of Friedman and Savage, comparative risk aversion, and comparative prudence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 34-36.
    14. James Huang & Richard Stapleton, 2017. "Higher-order risk vulnerability," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 63(2), pages 387-406, February.
    15. Keenan, Donald C. & Snow, Arthur, 2012. "Ross risk vulnerability for introductions and changes in background risk," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 197-206.
    16. Yonatan Aumann, 2015. "A conceptual foundation for the theory of risk aversion," Discussion Paper Series dp686, The Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
    17. Louis Eeckhoudt & Liqun Liu & Jack Meyer, 2017. "Restricted increases in risk aversion and their application," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(1), pages 161-181, June.
    18. Malevergne, Y. & Rey, B., 2009. "On cross-risk vulnerability," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 224-229, October.
    19. Crainich, David & Eeckhoudt, Louis & Courtois, Olivier Le, 2020. "Intensity of preferences for bivariate risk apportionment," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 153-160.
    20. Liqun Liu & William S. Neilson, 2019. "Alternative Approaches to Comparative n th-Degree Risk Aversion," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3824-3834, August.

    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:hal:journl:hal-02311924. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.