CEPR Network on Household Finance

This network, led by Michael Haliassos of Goethe University Frankfurt, aims to promote research on household finance that is both scientifically excellent and relevant to policymakers and market participants.

Conferences and Workshops

The network provides an organization underpinning the previously established European Conference in Household Finance, augmented by an additional annual Workshop, and further events.

News:

  • The Think Forward Initiative call for research proposals is now open. More information here.
  • Research Workshops in June 2018

The Think Forward Initiative is holding a series of workshops on the key themes that arose during its 2018 Summit on topics surrounding financial decision-making. The outcome of these workshops will be used to define the focus of future projects, to be funded in October. More information is available here.

Upcoming:

The conference will be held on 5-6 October 2018 at Ortygia Business School in Sicily, Italy. The call for papers is open until 24 June 2018. More information on the event and instructions for participation without paper presentation will be available soon. 

Past:
  • Big Data – Promises and Pitfalls for Consumers and the Finance Industry: Views from Practitioners and Academics

This event, supported by the CEPR Network on Household Finance, ING and the Think Forward Initiative, took place on 10 May 2018 at ING Bank. The full details can be found on the invitation.

The workshop took place on 11-12 May 2018 at the Imperial College of London. The programme and papers are available on the event webpage. The Prize for the best PhD student paper was awarded to Stephanie Johnson (Northwestern University) for her paper “Are Mortgage Regulations Affecting Entrepreneurship?”. Furthermore, the Network Director, prof Michalis Haliassos received an award in recognition of his dedication to the CEPR Network on Household Finance.

The 2017 conference took place in Sardinia on October 6 and 7, with Luigi Guiso and Tullio Jappelli as local organizers. For the second time, a Prize for the best PhD student paper was awarded, this time to Julio Galvez (CEMFI) for his paper on "Household portfolio choices and nonlinear income risk". More information on the conference can be found on the event webpage.  

During a joint TFI-CEPR event held on the 5th of October, the Think Forward Initiative Network launched their First Research Challenge.

The CEPR Network on Household Finance and the Copenhagen Business School, supported in part by the Think Forward Initiative (TFI), organised the 2017 CEPR European Workshop on Household Finance in Copenhagen in April. The workshop launched a prize for the best student paper in household finance which was awarded to Matteo Benetton for his paper on "Lenders' competition and macro-prudential regulation: A model of the UK mortgage supermarket". Short videos were produced to summarise the sessions and can be viewed here.  Further information on the workshop itself can be found on the event webpage.

CEPR, Copenhagen Business School, the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), HEC Paris, the Observatoire de l'Epargne Européenne (OEE), and the Swedish House of Finance (SHoF) at the Stockholm School of Economics organised the 2016 CEPR European Conference on Household Finance. The objective was to present state-of-the-art empirical research and empirically motivated theoretical research on household financial behaviour and on how it is influenced by other choices, government policies, and the overall economic environment.

CEPR, the Imperial College Business School and the London Business School organised the first European Household Finance Workshop on May 6-7, 2016. The objective was to host presentations and foster interaction between senior and junior researchers working in the area of household finance. The workshop included state-of-the-art research on household financial behaviour and on how this is influenced by other choices, government policies, and the overall economic environment.

The Research Center SAFE (Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe) at Goethe University Frankfurt, the Copenhagen Business School, the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), HEC Paris, and the Swedish House of Finance (SHoF) organized the 2015 European Conference of the CEPR Network on Household Finance.

  • Previous conferences: Athens, organized by CFS (2010); Rome at EIEF (2011); Oxford at SBS (2012, joint with NBER); Rome at EIEF (2013); Stockholm at Swedish House of Finance (2014).

Notices and Newsletters

Household Finance Newsletter #01 (N.B. The date for 2017 Sardinia conference changed from September 15-16 to October 6 and 7)

Household FInance Newsletter #02

Partnerships and Interactions with Policy Makers and Industry

The Network disseminates research findings to practitioners and policy makers in Europe and around the world, while drawing on their insights in terms of research questions that have practical or policy relevance. Network research and activities will remain nonpartisan, independent of industry and of political parties.

  • In April 2016, there was a special session on Household Finance, organised by Michael Haliassos, in the renowned Shanghai Forum (Shanghai, China). The Network was represented by Laurent Calvet, Francisco Gomes, Michael Haliassos, Luigi Guiso and Tullio Jappelli. Policy conclusions from the session were widely publicized in the Shanghai press.

  • Think Forward Initiative
    CEPR became an academic partner of the Think Forward Initiative in mid-2016. Through this partnership, TFI provides funding to the Household Finance Initiative. The Network, in collaboration with TFI, organizes events that promote closer interaction between academics, practitioners, and policy makers. The first TFI-CEPR event was organized in London on September 14, 2016.

    The 2018 TFI Summit took place on 10th April in Amsterdam. You can read a summary of the event here.

    In 2017, this partnership was taken to a higher level. During the Sardinia conference, on October 5, 2017, TFI held a networking event and issued a first “Research Challenge”: a call for research projects with potential relevance for industry applications aimed at empowering households to deal with their finances. Interested TFI industry partners will collaborate with researchers to test and develop innovative tools that are expected to make a difference in household financial decision making.

  • The Asian Bureau of Financial and Economic Research (ABFER) and the National University of Singapore Business School became Network Partners in 2017.
     
  • The EDHEC Business School Doctoral Program in Finance became a network partner in 2017.

Research promotion and encouragement of young researchers

The network promotes young researchers. Its conference and workshop will feature, in addition to regular paper presentations, presentations by doctoral students in household finance. Starting with the second Workshop on Household Finance held in Copenhagen, the Network launched a PhD student paper prize with the financial support of TFI. The prize is awarded to the best paper presented at one of our Conferences or Workshops that is solely authored by PhD students (or was substantially written during the candidates’ doctoral studies). The winners are selected by the CEPR Network Steering Committee after presenting their papers.

On the scientific front, the network will promote serious research by helping to coordinate the creation and dissemination of household finance data, by editing special issues on Household Finance in existing journals, and by pursuing the launch of a high-quality academic field journal on Household Finance (which exists nowhere in the world) and/or a number of special issues in existing journals.

Network members campaign for the importance of micro data for household finance research. The use of administrative data sets, collected for taxation or other purposes and relevant for household finance research, is emphasized. The network will investigate whether use of the Scandinavian approach to developing micro data can be streamlined, extended, and applied to other countries.

Founding Members

Network Director: Michael Haliassos (Goethe University and CEPR).
Founding Members: Steffen Andersen (Copenhagen Business School and CEPR); Laurent Calvet (EDHEC Business School and CEPR); Joao Cocco (London Business School and CEPR); Francisco Gomes (London Business School and CEPR); Luigi Guiso (EIEF and CEPR); Tullio Jappelli (University of Naples Federico II, CSEF and CEPR); Matti Keloharju (Aalto University and CEPR); Alex Michaelides (Imperial College and CEPR); Tarun Ramadorai (Imperial College and CEPR); and, Paolo Sodini (Stockholm School of Economics and SHoF).

Network Steering Committee

The Founding Members 

Giovanna Nicodano (Università di Torino) 

Wenlan Qian (National University of Singapore) 

Network Fellows

Rob Alessie (University of Groningen)

Monica Paiella (Università di Napoli Parthenope) 

Paolo Sodini (Stockholm School of Economics and SHoF​)

Network Affiliates

Cristian Badarinza (National University of Singapore) 

Vimal Balasubramaniam (Warwick Business School)

Andreas Fuster (Swiss National Bank)

Yigitcan Karabulut (Rotterdam School of Management).

 

Interested CEPR Fellows and Affiliates should contact Monika Tsvetkova for more information.