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Economic policy uncertainty and stock market participation

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  • Gábor-Tóth, Enikő
  • Georgarakos, Dimitris

Abstract

Does economic policy uncertainty affect household stockholding? To answer this question we create a novel measure of household exposure to economic policy uncertainty news by combining survey information on the hours a household spends in reading newspapers and the frequency of such news in the popular press during a household's pre-interview period. After controlling for household fixed effects, month-year fixed effects and time-varying cognitive skills, we find that households with a higher exposure to economic policy uncertainty news are less likely to invest in stocks held directly or through mutual funds. This effect is independent from the market volatility index and household (first-moment) expectations about the stock market index.

Suggested Citation

  • Gábor-Tóth, Enikő & Georgarakos, Dimitris, 2018. "Economic policy uncertainty and stock market participation," CFS Working Paper Series 590, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cfswop:590
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    Cited by:

    1. Park, Jin Seok & Suh, Donghyun, 2019. "Uncertainty and household portfolio choice : Evidence from South Korea," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 21-24.
    2. Imlak Shaikh, 2019. "On the Relationship between Economic Policy Uncertainty and the Implied Volatility Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-11, March.
    3. Lee, Kiryoung, 2023. "Geopolitical risk and household stock market participation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic policy uncertainty; household finance; stockholding; text analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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