When solving discrete-time consumption models with present-biased time preferences, backwards induction generates equilibria that are non-robust in the sense that policy functions are often sensitive to parameter choices, including the modeler's choice of the time-step. The current paper...

This study uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine whether self-regulation, proxied by regularly dining together with family, is associated with better financial preparedness and greater wealth accumulation across time among households. Findings reveal that individuals who...

The access to credit is generally seen as an important ingredient for development. However, over the last years reports on families contracting excessive debt and falling into credit traps have also increased. In this paper I develop a model of family credit behavior based on insights from...

In this paper, we attempt to shed light on whether Japanese households are rational or if their behavior is influenced by culture and social norms by examining their saving and bequest behavior. To summarize our main findings, we find that Japan's household saving rate showed great volatility,...

I present a model of consumption and savings for multi-person households in which members are imperfectly altruistic and share wealth. I show that, despite having standard exponential time preferences, the household is time-inconsistent: members save too little and overspend on private...

This paper examines the life-cycle impact of preference factors as experience, loss aversion, and narrow framing on explaining the empirical low stock market participation, low stock share conditional on participation, and positive relationships between financial wealth and participation as well...

We implement a binary trust game between 211 married couples from lowincome households in urban India. In a separate experiment, these spouses randomly received either only a joint savings device (control) or, additionally, a device for individual usage (treatment). Combining data from both...

Germany is falling behind its peers in adopting new digital technologies and financial services offered by non-bank high-tech startups (e.g., FinTech). Using survey data, we analyze which FinTech services households are likely to adopt. Our results indicate that a household's level of trust and...

Using the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, we identify six household types as a function of their balance sheet composition. Since 1999, there has been a decline in the share of patient households and an increase in the share of impatient households with negative wealth. Using a DSGE model with...

We develop an incomplete-markets heterogeneous agent New-Keynesian (HANK) model in which households are allowed to lend and borrow, subject to a borrowing constraint. We show that, in this framework, forward guidance, that is the promise by the central bank to lower future interest rates, can be...