Saving and portfolio allocation before and after job loss

Arbeitspapier

Using administrative panel data from Norway, we investigate the development of household labor income, financial wealth and asset holdings over a nine-year period surrounding job loss. Consistent with a simple theoretical model, the data show precautionary saving and a shift toward safer assets in the years leading up to unemployment, and depletion of savings during unemployment. This suggests that at least some households can foresee and prepare for upcoming unemployment, which indicates that private savings can to some extent serve as a substitute for publicly provided unemployment insurance.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: KOF Working Papers ; No. 298

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Macroeconomics: Consumption; Saving; Wealth ; Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity ; Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions ; Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
• Subject: unemployment ; precautionary saving ; consumption smoothing ; household portfolios ; portfolio allocation ; optimal unemployment insurance ; Arbeitslosigkeit ; Haushaltseinkommen ; Sparen ; Konsumentenverhalten ; Privater Haushalt ; Portfolio-Management ; Norwegen

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Basten, Christoph ; Fagereng, Andreas ; Telle, Kjetil
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute
• (where): Zurich
• (when): 2012

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.3929/ethz-a-006999200
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/80811
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET