The study quantifies stock market and housing market wealth effects on households' non-durable consumption using Italian household panel data (SHIW) of 1989-2002. We found, averaging over all households, both statistically and economically insignificant housing wealth effects. However, we found...

This report analyses the portfolio behaviour of Dutch households. The study is partly based on information from a broad survey commissioned by the Nederlandsche Bank, held in March of this year. The investigation shows that risk bearing elements are becoming more and more important in households...

This paper explores the characteristics of the monetary transmission mechanism in the UK, as portrayed by the National Institute's Domestic Econometric Model (NiDEM). Sensitivity to different monetary policy regimes and to alternative models of consumers' expenditure is assessed. The methodology...

This study is an introduction to and summary of the 2002 Annual Meeting papers of the Royal Netherlands Economic Association. The general theme of this year's Annual Meeting is 'The role of wealth in the economy'. It is covered by 5 papers, which address the following topics: (i) household...

This paper presents an analysis of the financial behaviour of Dutch households on the basis of the DNB Household Survey. The results of this survey provide insight into the backgrounds and consequences of the persistent rise of household debt. The increase in mortgage debt is related to mortgage...

This paper studies the (short-run) relationship between stock market developments and consumer confidence in eleven European countries over the years 1986-2001. We find that stock returns and changes in sentiment are positively correlated for nine countries, with Germany as the main exception....

This paper investigates the impact of newspaper articles about skimming fraud on debit card usage in the Netherlands, using daily transaction data and daily newspaper announcements from January 1st 2005 to December 31st 2008. Key finding is that articles about skimming fraud significantly affect...

Mullainathan and Shleifer (2002) argue that there are two types of media bias. One bias, called ideology, reflects a news outlet's desire to affect reader opinions in a particular direction. The second bias, referred to as spin, reflects the outlet's attempt to simply create a memorable story....

Rational expectations and the logic of budget constraints imply that the predictability of asset returns hinges on the stability and persistence of households' ratio of saving to asset wealth, not of consumption to total wealth. This misalignment undermines the rationale for Lettau and...

Employer matching of employee 401(k) contributions can provide a powerful incentive to save for retirement and is a key component in pension-plan design in the United States. Using detailed administrative contribution, earnings, and pension-plan data from the Health and Retirement Study, this...