IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ukm/jlekon/v49y2015i1p15-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial Fragility of Urban Households in Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Abdullah Yusof, Selamah

    (Department of Economics International Islamic University Malaysia P. O. Box 10, 50728, Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA)

  • Abd Rokis, Rohaiza

    (Department of Sociology and Anthropology International Islamic University Malaysia P. O. Box 10, 50728, Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA)

  • Wan Jusoh, Wan Jamaliah

    (Department of Business Administration International Islamic University Malaysia P. O. Box 10, 50728, Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA)

Abstract

Household debt in Malaysia has been on an upward trend and increasing at a relatively fast pace. This study provides an in-depth micro analysis of the current Malaysian urban households’ vulnerabilities by examining the extent of their ability in dealing with financial shocks and factors that attribute to their financial fragility. Using a recent strictly random sample, it is found that Malaysian urban households are financially vulnerable. Only 10 percent of the households are resilient to shocks related to unemployment, physical disability, divorce, death, or changes in interest rate or stock market. More than a fifth of the households are not able to survive for at least three months if their income is cut off. Additionally, more than a fifth of these households do not have enough savings or any other source to turn to if there is a need to raise RM10,000 within a short period. Household income significantly affects a household current financial situation, while those with better financial knowledge and higher levels of education are less likely to be in asset poverty. The inability to cope with financial shocks differs across ethnic groups partly due to the wealth disparity and access to sources of funds. Initiatives must be undertaken to assist the households in facing these challenges and for them to exercise financial prudence. Additionally, household debt must be closely monitored to ensure that it is sustainable.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdullah Yusof, Selamah & Abd Rokis, Rohaiza & Wan Jusoh, Wan Jamaliah, 2015. "Financial Fragility of Urban Households in Malaysia," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 49(1), pages 15-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:ukm:jlekon:v:49:y:2015:i:1:p:15-24
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JEM-2015-4901-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ukm.my/jem/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/jeko_491-2.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JEM-2015-4901-02?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grable, John & Lytton, Ruth H., 1999. "Financial risk tolerance revisited: the development of a risk assessment instrument," Financial Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 163-181.
    2. Annamaria Lusardi & Daniel Schneider & Peter Tufano, 2011. "Financially Fragile Households: Evidence and Implications," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 42(1 (Spring), pages 83-150.
    3. Rasmus Heltberg & Niels Lund, 2009. "Shocks, Coping, and Outcomes for Pakistan's Poor: Health Risks Predominate," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(6), pages 889-910.
    4. William R. Emmons & Bryan J. Noeth, 2013. "Economic vulnerability and financial fragility," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Sep, pages 361-388.
    5. Büyükkarabacak, Berrak & Valev, Neven T., 2010. "The role of household and business credit in banking crises," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1247-1256, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wu, Kai & Wan, Shijia, 2023. "Job stability and household financial vulnerability: Evidence from field surveys in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    2. Sara Fernández-López & Marcos à lvarez-Espiño & Lucía Rey-Ares, 2023. "A Comprehensive Approach to Measuring Financial Vulnerability and Literacy: Unveiling Connections," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    3. Tongpu Zhao & Ruiyun Wanyan & Lingyan Suo, 2023. "Research on the Effect of Commercial Health Insurance Development on Economic Efficiency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Erzsébet Németh & Boglárka Deák-Zsótér & Botond Géza Kálmán, 2024. "Order Creates Value: Personality, Attitudinal and Behavioral Factors of Financial Vulnerability," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 19(1), pages 1-21, Enero - M.
    5. Ján Buleca & Nikola Šubová & Lenka Malièká, 2022. "The Relationship between Household Wealth and Financial Vulnerability in the Post-communist Countries of the Euro Area," Journal of Economics / Ekonomicky casopis, Institute of Economic Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, vol. 70(7-8), pages 569-588, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hermansson, Cecilia, 2018. "Can self-assessed financial risk measures explain and predict bank customers’ objective financial risk?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 226-240.
    2. Chen, Bo & Zeng, Ning & Tam, Kwo Ping, 2024. "Do social networks affect household financial vulnerability? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    3. Zaimah Ramli & Henry Borromeo Anak Nyirop & Sarmila Md Sum & Abd Hair Awang, 2022. "The Impact of Financial Shock, Behavior, and Knowledge on the Financial Fragility of Single Youth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-13, April.
    4. J. Magendans & J.M. Gutteling & S. Zebel, 2017. "Psychological determinants of financial buffer saving: the influence of financial risk tolerance and regulatory focus," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(8), pages 1076-1093, August.
    5. Kseniya Abanokova & Michael Lokshin, 2015. "Changes in household composition as a shock-mitigating strategy," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 23(2), pages 371-388, April.
    6. Hermansson, Cecilia & Jonsson, Sara, 2021. "The impact of financial literacy and financial interest on risk tolerance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    7. Filiz-Ozbay, Emel & Guryan, Jonathan & Hyndman, Kyle & Kearney, Melissa & Ozbay, Erkut Y., 2015. "Do lottery payments induce savings behavior? Evidence from the lab," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 1-24.
    8. Wookjae Heo & John E. Grable & Barbara O’Neill, 2017. "Wealth Accumulation Inequality: Does Investment Risk Tolerance and Equity Ownership Drive Wealth Accumulation?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 209-225, August.
    9. Lv, Xueliang & Yu, Yue & Zhao, Xiaomeng & Si, Deng-Kui, 2023. "Minimum wage and household economic vulnerability: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 624-646.
    10. Jean-Charles Bricongne & Leonor Coutinho & Alessandro Turrini & Stefan Zeugner, 2020. "Is Private Debt Excessive?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 471-512, April.
    11. Kartik Athreya & José Mustre-del-Río & Juan M Sánchez, 2019. "The Persistence of Financial Distress," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(10), pages 3851-3883.
    12. Clara Zanon Brenck, 2022. "Inequality, Debt Dynamics and the Incidence of Tax Rates: Addressing Macroeconomic Instability in a Post Keynesian Model," Working Papers 2212, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    13. Ray Boshara & William R. Emmons & Bryan J. Noeth, 2015. "The Demographics of Wealth - How Age, Education and Race Separate Thrivers from Strugglers in Today's Economy. Essay No. 2: The Role of Education," Demographics of Wealth, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue 2, pages 1-28.
    14. Wang, Wei & Xu, Huifu & Ma, Tiejun, 2023. "Optimal scenario-dependent multivariate shortfall risk measure and its application in risk capital allocation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(1), pages 322-347.
    15. Can Xu & Jan P. A. M. Jacobs & Jakob de Haan, 2023. "Does Household Borrowing Reduce the Trade Balance? Evidence from Developing and Developed Countries," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 759-787, September.
    16. Jones, Jeffrey S. & Lee, Wayne Y. & Yeager, Timothy J., 2013. "Valuation and systemic risk consequences of bank opacity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 693-706.
    17. Lainà, Patrizio & Nyholm, Juho & Sarlin, Peter, 2015. "Leading indicators of systemic banking crises: Finland in a panel of EU countries," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 18-35.
    18. Pedro Gete, 2015. "Housing demands, savings gluts and current account dynamics," Globalization Institute Working Papers 221, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    19. John Gibson & David Johnson, 0. "Breaking Bad: When Being Disadvantaged Incentivizes (Seemingly) Risky Behavior," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 0, pages 1-28.
    20. Cem Oyvat & Oğuz Öztunalı & Ceyhun Elgin, 2020. "Wage‐led versus profit‐led demand: A comprehensive empirical analysis," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 458-486, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ukm:jlekon:v:49:y:2015:i:1:p:15-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Muhammad Asri Abd Ghani (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feukmmy.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.