This paper establishes a causal relation between an individual's decision of whether to own stocks and average stock market participation decision of the individual's community. We instrument for the average ownership of an individual's community with lagged average ownership of the states in...

This paper uses the receipt of an inheritance to measure the effect of wealth shocks on retirement. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we first document that inheritance receipt is common among older workers - one in five households receives an inheritance over an eight-year period,...

This paper provides direct evidence of a causal link between the stock market participation of individuals and that of the other members of the community in which they reside. We first establish the presence of a robust positive correlation between the probability that an individual owns stock...

This paper examines how the menu of investment options made available to workers influences portfolio choice. Using a unique panel data set of 401(k) plans, we examine four aspects of investment behavior. First, we show that the share of investment options in a particular asset class (i.e.,...

Using the 2003 reduction in dividend tax rates to identify an exogenous change in the after-tax value of dividends to shareholders, we test whether stock holdings among company executives is an important determinant of payout policy. We have three primary findings. First, we find that when top...

This paper examines why some employers provide matching contributions to 401(k) plans in company stock and explores the implications of match policy for employee retirement wealth. Unlike stock option grants to non-executives, a firm's decision to match in company stock does not appear to be...

This paper is the first to investigate the importance of geography in explaining equity market participation. We provide evidence to support two distinct local area effects. The first is a community ownership effect, that is, individuals are influenced by the investment behavior of members of...

This paper shows that individual investors are reluctant to sell mutual funds that have appreciated in value and are willing to sell losers, in stark contrast to their stock trading where the disposition effect dominates. Comparison of trades in taxable and tax-deferred accounts suggests that a...

This paper tests whether information advantages help explain why some individual investors concentrate their stock portfolios in a few stocks. Stock investments made by households that choose to concentrate their brokerage accounts in a few stocks outperform those made by households with more...

This paper examines why some employers provide matching contributions to 401(k) plans in company stock and explores the implications of match policy for employee retirement wealth. Unlike stock option grants to non-executives, a firm's decision to match in company stock does not appear to be...