Discussion paper
DP15370 Income Risk and Stock Market Entry/Exit Decisions
This study examines the stock market entry and exit decisions of U.S. households. We find that a significant portion of households enters or exits from their non-retirement investment accounts biennially. Empirical evidence indicate that income risk affects equity ownership turnover. A portfolio choice model with an income process extracted from survey data shows that idiosyncratic income shocks are more important for dynamic equity ownership decisions than aggregate stock market risk. The model yields realistic estimates for the coefficient of relative risk aversion (= 3.09) and the discount factor (= 0.97).
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