We study the effect on savings of an increase in the capital risk of the investment opportunities when the representative consumer is allowed to optimally choose her portfolio. Sandmo (1970) and Levhari and Srinivasan (1969) prove that individuals with high risk-aversion and time-separable,...

We use a Cox-type model to investigate the role of the family as an informal market: parents enjoy their children’s proximity (a proxy for the informal care they can receive from their kids) and “reward” them with an anticipated wealth transfer. Children appreciate the reward, particularly...

In this paper we study the effects of the reform of the system of severance indemnities (TFR) currently in use for Italian employees on the cost and the access to credit for Italian small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The most direct consequence of the reform will be to reduce the amount...

The low level of financial literacy in many countries suggests that households are at risk of sub-optimal financial decisions. In this paper we assess to what extent financial advisors can substitute for such a lack of knowledge, by analyzing the effect of investors’ financial literacy on...

The concept of “familiarity” has been used in financial economics to explain apparent paradoxes in people’s behavior, such as the home bias in portfolio choices. In this study, we investigate whether (lack of) familiarity with the language of investor communication may contribute to an...

A growing body of literature shows that nancial literacy aects household savings and investment choices. Less attention has, however, been devoted to its eect on debt behaviour. This paper contributes to lling this gap by considering how nancial literacy in uences household attitudes with...

Financial literacy has important implications for economic reforms. Reforms are meant to change people’s behavior and their effectiveness crucially depends on the ability of citizens to recognize and generally approve their necessity, their general design, and their “sense of direction.”...

This paper contributes to the ESF Forward Look project “Ageing, Health and Pensions in Europe” by providing an overview of policy questions and research literature on the adequacy of saving for old age in European countries. Given the current status and practices, the paper describes...

This paper aims at detecting whether Italian households exhibit excess sensitivity in their consumption with regard to “severance pay”, a sizable, expected lump sum that workers receive at either retirement or whenever they leave their job for whatever reason. One of the implications of the...

PAYG and funding may and do coexist in social security systems. The proportions of this coexistence, however, are quite variable from country to country. The paper examines the US and a number of European countries, looking at both the present state and the foreseeable trends in future decades....