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French households financial wealth: which changes in 20 years?

Author

Listed:
  • J.-B. BERNARD

    (Insee)

  • L. BERTHET

    (Direction Générale du Trésor)

Abstract

Focusing on households' financial assets, this work attempts to analyze microeconomic determinants of the global evolutions in French households' portfolio from 1990 to 2010. In particular, we analyze the role of age and provide, from French data, an empirical ground to the large literature dedicated to wealth accumulation. The paper mobilizes successive Household Wealth Survey cross-sections (conducted in 1992, 1998, 2004 and 2010) and develops an age-cohort-period model. The estimation of age-patterns for financial assets building shows no decumulation in retirement, on the contrary to the standard Life-Cycle Hypothesis, and no significant differences between birth cohort groups. This approach is supplemented by exploring the role played by other microeconomic determinants, such as diploma, suggesting the existence of a large diversity of accumulation patterns within each generation. The paper ends with a brief focus on life insurance expansion in French households' portfolio, describing its nature and which savers' groups have supported it.

Suggested Citation

  • J.-B. Bernard & L. Berthet, 2015. "French households financial wealth: which changes in 20 years?," Documents de Travail de l'Insee - INSEE Working Papers g2015-18, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques.
    • Handle: RePEc:nse:doctra:g2015-18
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    File URL: https://www.bnsp.insee.fr/ark:/12148/bc6p06zrbz9/f1.pdf
    File Function: Document de travail de la DESE numéro G2015-18
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hippolyte d'Albis & Ikpidi Badji, 2017. "Les inégalités de niveaux de vie entre les générations en France," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01524882, HAL.
    2. d'Albis, Hippolyte & Badji, Ikpidi & El Mekkaoui, Najat & Navaux, Julien, 2020. "Private asset income in France: Is there a breakdown of intergenerational equity between 1979 and 2011?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial wealth; Age-Period-Cohort (APC); Life-Cycle; Intergenerational Equity; households portfolio choice; life-insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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