The Effects of Marital Status and Children on Savings and Portfolio Choice

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Love, David A.
• 署名单位: Williams College
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhp020
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 385
• 关键词: CYCLE ASSET ALLOCATION; life-cycle; labor income; wealth inequality; consumption; RISK; constraints; insurance; marriage; BEHAVIOR

摘要

This paper investigates the impact of demographic shocks on optimal decisions about saving, life insurance, and, most centrally, asset allocation. The analysis indicates that marital-status transitions can have important effects on optimal household decisions, particularly in the cases of widowhood and divorce. Children also play a fundamental role in portfolio choice; in addition to leading to substantially different average allocations, they also have strong interaction effects with changes in marital status. Panel data evidence on stockholding suggests that changes in marital status and children matter empirically as well, but not always in the manner that the model predicts.