We use a life cycle model of consumption and portfolio choice to study the effects of social security on the investment decisions of households for the European case. Our model is mainly based on the one developed by Cocco, Gomes, and Maenhout (2005). We extend it by unemployment risk using...

In the developing world, the population is frequently faced with numerous natural, economic, institutional and market risks. Because of these uncertainties, many individuals and households experience difficult periods of unexpected reduction in income. Using panel data from the Indonesian Family...

We consider a formal approach to comparative risk aversion and applies it to intertemporal choice models. This allows us to ask whether standard classes of utility functions, such as those inspired by Kihlstrom and Mirman [15], Selden [26], Epstein and Zin [9] and Quiggin [24] are well-ordered...

Survey data show that many respondents save for retirement in unconventional retirement accounts, such as investments in real estate. In countries where retirement savings are not mandatory for self-employed, representatives of this group often report this as an argument against making...

This paper examines the extent to which consumption in Russian households responds to exogenous income shocks. During the time period studied in this paper (1994 – 1998), Russia experienced two major economic crises. Both featured extreme movements in the real ruble-dollar exchange rate. The...

This paper quantitatively characterizes optimal tax systems in a model of overlapping generations, when transitional cohorts are explicitly taken into account. We use the recent study of Conesa et al. (2009) as an example, but extend it by transitional dynamics. We furthermore develop a general...

This paper extends the idea of using ex-ante risk measures in a model of precautionary savings by explicitly simulating future net-income risks. The uncertainty measure takes into account the interdependency of labour market status and health. The model is estimated for prime age males using the...

This paper examines the extent to which consumption in Russian households responds to exogenous income shocks. During the time period studied in this paper (1994-1998), Russia experienced two major economic crises. Both featured extreme movements in the real ruble-dollar exchange rate. The price...