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Search for Financial Returns and Social Security Privatization

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  • Alisdair McKay

    (Boston University)

Abstract

I develop a general equilibrium model in which the quality of household financial decisions is endogenously determined by the incentives to exert effort in learning about financial opportunities. The model generates predictions for asset market participation and returns across households. Moreover, search for financial returns enables the model to generate a more skewed equilibrium wealth distribution. In this context, social security privatization affects household search effort, asset market participation and the competitiveness of the asset market. Privatization reduces average welfare and this reduction is somewhat magnified by the search friction. While some have suggested that household decision making could be important for the consequences of privatization, my analysis does not bear this out. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Suggested Citation

  • Alisdair McKay, 2013. "Search for Financial Returns and Social Security Privatization," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(2), pages 253-270, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:red:issued:12-80
    DOI: 10.1010/j.red.2013.01.001
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    2. Per Krusell & Anthony Smith & Joachim Hubmer, 2015. "The historical evolution of the wealth distribution: A quantitative-theoretic investigation," 2015 Meeting Papers 1406, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    3. Macaulay, Alistair, 2021. "The attention trap: Rational inattention, inequality, and fiscal policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    4. Daniel Barth, 2018. "The Costs and Beliefs Implied by Direct Stock Ownership," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(11), pages 5263-5288, November.
    5. Daniel R. Carroll & Eric Young, 2014. "The Piketty Transition," Working Papers (Old Series) 1432, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    6. Seth Neumuller & Casey Rothschild, 2017. "Financial Sophistication and Portfolio Choice over the Life Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 26, pages 243-262, October.
    7. James Best & Keshav Dogra, 2023. "Capital Management and Wealth Inequality," Staff Reports 1072, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Savings; Household finance; social security;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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