Dimitrios Christelis

Wealth Shocks, Unemployment Shocks and Consumption in the Wake of the Great Recession

Data from the 2009 Internet Survey of the Health and Retirement Study show that many U.S. households experienced large capital losses in housing and financial wealth, and that 5% of respondents lost their job during the Great Recession. As a consequence of these shocks, many households reduced substantially their expenditures. For every 10% loss in housing and financial wealth, the estimated drop in household expenditure is about 0.56% and 0.9%, respectively. In addition, those who became unemployed reduced spending by 10%. We also distinguish the effect of perceived transitory and permanent wealth shocks, splitting the sample between households who think that the stock market is likely to recover in a year’s time, and those who do not. In line with the predictions of standard models of intertemporal choice, we find that the latter group adjusted much more than the former its spending in response to financial wealth shocks.

Income, wealth and financial fragility in Europe

The article examines the distribution of income and wealth among the generation of Europeans aged 65 and over, using data drawn from the first wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). It looks at how cross-country comparisons of income, wealth and debt are affected by differences in purchasing power, household size and taxation, and shows that some seemingly wide international differences appear less so when the proper adjustments are made. The article reveals wide differences in income, wealth and indebtedness of elderly households in Europe, and provides background information on social issues such as the adequacy of savings at retirement, and the financial fragility of the elderly.

Imputation of Missing Data in Waves 1 and 2 of SHARE

The Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), like all large household surveys, suffers from the problem of item non-response, and hence the need of imputation of missing values arises. In this paper I describe the imputation methodology used in the first two waves of SHARE, which is the fully conditional specification approach of van Buuren, Brand, Groothuis-Oudshoorn, and Rubin (2006). Methods for assessing the convergence of the imputation process are also discussed. Finally, I give details on numerous issues affecting the implementation of the imputation process that are particular to SHARE.

Expected Bequests and Current Wealth of Older Households

We use the subjective probabilities of bequests to be given in the future and current asset holdings, as reported in three household surveys (HRS, ELSA, and SHARE) covering thirteen countries, in order to assess whether, and to what extent, households plan to decumulate assets in old age. We model intended bequests as a function of household demographic and economic characteristics, and estimate their expected value using quasi-maximum likelihood methods. By comparing the current wealth holdings with the expected intended bequests we compute the pattern of future saving by households, and assess its cross-country variability with respect to housing wealth.