Stockholding: Does housing wealth matter?

The existence of an equity premium puzzle has been largely emphasized in the empirical literature: one observes low risky assets holding that the standard portfolio choice model (with expected and discounting utility and homothetic preferences) is not able to explain. Besides modifications of rationality assumptions, other changes have been introduced in the standard framework to account for this equity premium puzzle: the existence of transaction costs, liquidity constraints or other risks (e.g. risks associated with employment, income, health,). These background risks (i.e. risks that are unavoidable, exogenous and independent from the financial market risk) may lead households to reduce their stockownership in order to limit their global exposure to risk. Recent developments examine the role of housing on stockholding as another background risk. This paper analyses the empirical link between stockholding and housing wealth within this framework. We use the French wealth survey (Enquête Patrimoine 2004, Insee) that gives us detailed information on households portfolio, socio-demographic variables, and several measures of preference and exposition to various risks (income, unemployment, health, and business). We find that an increase in the housing to net wealth ratio crowds out stock market investment for a given total financial wealth: when facing real estate exposure to risk, households tend to moderate their global exposure to risk by limiting the share of their financial wealth invested in stocks. Among the other significant determinants of the equity premium puzzle, we emphasize the role of transaction and information costs, the attitude toward risk and the exposition to various risks in hampering investments in stocks.Portfolio choice , background risks , housing demand , life-cycle model.

Wealth Effects on Consumption Plans: French Households in the Crisis

This paper analyzes the wealth effect on consumption in France by relying on two original household surveys. First, it provides the first estimate of the marginal propensity to consume out of wealth based on micro data for France (Enquête Patrimoine 2009, Insee): a low but significant wealth effect is obtained and financial wealth seems to be significant only for stockholders. Second, it studies how French households have adapted their consumption plans during the 2008-2009 crisis by relying on household self-assessed changes in future consumption (survey PATER). Besides the direct wealth effect, our results confirm the role played by changes in expectations on consumption plans, and thus, by the confidence channel as an additional transmission mechanism of the crisis.wealth effect, housing and financial wealth, consumption, household survey, expectations.

Épargne et choix de portefeuille des ménages : approches micro et macroéconomiques.

Les comportements d’épargne et d’allocation d’actifs des ménages sont des éléments clés pour le financement de l’économie. La récente crise financière et plus structurellement le vieillissement des populations conduisent les banques centrales, le régulateur et les acteurs des marchés à développer les politiques d’éducation financière du public.Choix de portefeuille, épargne, immobilier, retraites.

Informative Social Interactions

We design, field and exploit survey data from a representative sample of the French population to examine whether informative social interactions enter households.stockholding decisions. Respondents report perceptions about their circle of peers with whom they interact about financial matters, their social circle and the population. We provide evidence for the presence of an information channel through which social interactions influence perceptions and expectations about stock returns, and financial behavior. We also find evidence of mindless imitation of peers in the outer social circle, but this does not permeate as many layers of financial behavior as informative social interactions do

Like Father, Like Son: Inheriting and Bequeathing

Empirical evidence suggests that parents who have themselves inherited from their own parents are more likely to leave an estate to their children even after controlling for income, wealth and education. This implies an indirect reciprocal behavior between three generations by transmitting the attitude towards bequeathing from one generation to the next. We incorporate such an intergenerational chain into an overlapping generations model and show that the economy might be characterized by multiple steady states involving poverty traps. Individuals will not leave bequests unless per capita income levels exceed a threshold level. In such a situation, an unfunded social security security programme may help to overcome poverty by providing additional old age income out of which to bequeath.Empirische Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Eltern, die etwas geerbt haben, unabhängig von etwaigen Einkommens- und Vermögenseffekten, eher geneigt sind selbst auch zu vererben. Dies impliziert ein indirekt reziprokes Verhalten zwischen drei Generationen, bei dem die Einstellung gegenüber dem Vererbungsvorgang von einer Generation zur nächsten weitergegeben wird. Wir integrieren eine solche intergenerationale Verknüpfung in ein überlappendes Generationenmodell und zeigen, dass die resultierende Ökonomie durch multiple Gleichgewichte, einschließlich Armutsfallen, charakterisiert werden kann. Individuen vererben nur dann an ihre Nachkommen, wenn das eigene Pro-Kopf-Einkommen hinreichend hoch ist und einen gewissen Schwellenwert überschreitet. In einer solchen Situation kann ein umlagefinanziertes Rentensystem dazu beitragen der Armut zu entkommen, indem es den Individuen zusätzliches Alterseinkommen zur Verfügung stellt, aus dem sie vererben können

Les comportements patrimoniaux des ménages en France : évolutions et déterminants entre 2004 et 2010.

À la lumière des informations issues des enquêtes Patrimoine 2004 et 2010 de l’INSEE et des évaluations des comptes nationaux financiers établis par la Banque de France, l’article propose une première analyse des ajustements patrimoniaux des ménages français depuis 2007.épargne, ménages, portefeuilles, immobilier, risques.

COL4A3/COL4A4 mutations: from familial hematuria to autosomal-dominant or recessive Alport syndrome.

COL4A3/COL4A4 mutations: From familial hematuria to autosomal-dominant or recessive Alport syndrome. BACKGROUND: Mutations of the type IV collagen COL4A5 gene cause X-linked Alport syndrome (ATS). Mutations of COL4A3 and COL4A4 have been reported both in autosomal-recessive and autosomal-dominant ATS, as well as in benign familial hematuria (BFH). In the latter conditions, however, clinical features are less defined, few mutations have been reported, and other genes and non-genetic factors may be involved. METHODS: We analyzed 36 ATS patients for COL4A3 and COL4A4 mutations by polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and direct sequencing. Sporadic patients who had tested negative for COL4A5 mutations were included with typical cases of autosomal recessive ATS to secure a better definition of the phenotype spectrum. RESULTS: We identified seven previously undescribed COL4A3 mutations: in two genetic compounds and three heterozygotes, and one in COL4A4. In agreement with the literature, some of the mutations of compound heterozygotes were associated with microhematuria in healthy heterozygous relatives. The mutations of heterozygous patients are likely dominant, since no change was identified in the second allele even by sequencing, and they are predicted to result in shortened or abnormal chains with a possible dominant-negative effect. In addition, both genes showed rare variants of unclear pathogenicity, and common polymorphisms that are shared in part with other populations. CONCLUSIONS: This study extends the mutation spectrum of COL4A3 and COL4A4 genes, and suggests a possible relationship between production of abnormal COL IV chains and dominant expression of a continuous spectrum of phenotypes, from ATS to BFH