An economy in which deposit-taking banks of a Diamond/ Dybvig style and an asset market coexist is modelled. Firstly, within this framework we characterize distinct financial systems depending on the fraction of households with direct investment opportunities that are less efficient than those...

Increasingly, individuals are in charge of their own financial security and are confronted with ever more complex financial instruments. However, there is evidence that many individuals are not well-equipped to make sound saving decisions. This paper demonstrates widespread financial illiteracy...

We study the impact of ambiguity on two alternative institutions of financial intermediation in an economy where consumers face uncertain liquidity needs. The ambiguity the consumers experience is modeled by the degree of confidence in their additive beliefs. We analyze the optimal liquidity...

Mit der Einführung der privaten Riester-Rente und der privaten Versicherung des Zahnersatzes ist Deutschland - wie Bundespräsident Horst Köhler es formulierte - auf dem Weg, "eine neue Balance von Eigenverantwortung und kollektiver Absicherung" zu finden. Es ist zu vermuten, dass...

The utility-maximizing consumption and investment strategy of an individual investor receiving an unspanned labor income stream seems impossible to find in closed form and very difficult to find using numerical solution techniques. We suggest an easy procedure for finding a specific, simple, and...

An economy in which deposit-taking banks of a Diamond/ Dybvig style and an asset market coexist is modelled. Firstly, within this framework we characterize distinct financial systems depending on the fraction of households with direct investment opportunities that are less efficient than those...

This paper studies the effects of heterogeneity in planning propensity on wealth inequality and asset prices. I consider an economy populated by attentive and inattentive agents. Attentive agents plan their consumption period by period, while inattentive agents plan every other period....