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Government Policy and Ownership of Financial Assets

Author

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  • Kristian Rydqvist
  • Joshua Spizman
  • Ilya A. Strebulaev

Abstract

Since World War II, direct stock ownership by households across the globe has largely been replaced by indirect stock ownership by financial institutions. We argue that tax policy is the driving force. Using long time-series from eight countries, we show that the fraction of household ownership decreases with measures of the tax benefits of holding stocks inside tax-deferred plans. This finding is important for policy considerations on effective taxation and for financial economics research on the long-term effects of taxation on corporate finance and asset prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristian Rydqvist & Joshua Spizman & Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2011. "Government Policy and Ownership of Financial Assets," NBER Working Papers 17522, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17522
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    2. Roc Armenter & Viktoria Hnatkovska, 2011. "The macroeconomics of firms' savings," Working Papers 12-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    3. Edquist, Harald & Henrekson, Magnus, 2013. "Product Market Reforms and Incentives to Innovate in Sweden," Working Paper Series 986, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General

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