This research examines whether women have higher risk aversion than men as demonstrated by their retirement asset allocation. The analysis is extended to investigate how retirement asset investment decisions are made in married households. Initial results suggest controlling for demographic,...

In sharp contrast to the recommendations of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), a vast majority of investors are not well diversified. This neglect of diversification is seen across all wealth segments, including the affluent. This paper attempts to provide a solution to this quot;diversification...

This paper explores portfolio allocation when individuals target the mean and variance of consumption growth. These consumption targets lead to an optimal mix of equity which depends on the equity risk premium, the rate of return on riskless bonds, the desired rate of escalation of consumption...

We examine the geographic distribution of the shareholders of the U.S. Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) and document that a customer of an RBOC is more likely to invest in his local company than in an RBOC in another service area. Holdings of the local RBOC tend to be larger than...

Using microdata from U.S. household surveys, I document that families with a financially sophisticated husband are more likely to participate in the stock market than those with a wife of equal financial sophistication. This pattern is best explained by gender identity norms, which constrain...

We study whether mortgage debt obtained from licensed financial institutions and informal home loans obtained from private lending have differing impacts on stock ownership. Using the China Household Finance Survey data, we show that the two forms of borrowing have opposite effects on stock...

Using a unique survey data of Chinese households, we study the impact of house price growth and house price risk on entrepreneurship. House price risk, measured as the sensitivity of house price growth to local GDP growth, negatively impacts the entrepreneurship of homeowners relative to...

We relate time-varying aggregate ambiguity (V-VSTOXX) to individual investor trading. We use the trading records of more than 100,000 individual investors from a large German online brokerage from March 2010 to December 2015. We find that an increase in ambiguity is associated with increased...

This paper analyzes the effect equity values and age have on the risk aversion of participants in U.S. defined contribution plans using a unique dataset with daily responses to a risk tolerance questionnaire. We find that older investors are more risk averse compared to younger cohorts when...

Formal dynamic analyses of household portfolio choice in the literature focus on holdings of equity and a risk-free asset or bonds of different maturities, neglecting the interdependence of the decisions to invest in equity, short-term and longterm bonds made by households. Data from the Survey...