Why do Households Leave Money on the Table? The Case of Subsidized Pension Products

Abstract

Many individuals only save money in their savings account for their old-age provision rather than investing in more profitable asset classes. That is despite the existence of subsidized pension products, for which smallest contributions can be made monthly, which guarantee the capital preservation, and which offer higher expected returns than saving money in bank deposits. We investigate the determinants that affect individuals’ decision to leave money on the table by not investing in subsidized pension products. Our results show that financial literacy and financial advice are positively related to holding such pension products. In that, our results emphasize the role of financial literacy and financial advisors for sound financial decision-making in increasingly complex financial markets.     

开放经济中的金融安全问题及其保障对策

在开放经济体系中，金融安全至关重要，它构成了产业安全的核心内容。一般认为，金融安全是指一国能够抵御内外冲击保持金融秩序和金融体系正常运行与发展的状态以反维持这种状态的能力和对这种状态与维持能力的信心与主观感觉，包括在这种状态和能力下所获得的政治、金融制度和体系的安全、金融财富的安全、金融机构的安全、金融发展的安全，对整体经济和政治安全起决定性作用的金融运行的安全等。发展中国家尤其应当重视金融安全问题，通过各种有效的措施积极防范和化解金融风险，保障金融安全。     

On the Need for Gender in Dynamic Models

In this paper we emphasize the need for more theoretical research using dynamic models that include gender as a variable of analysis. We begin by summarizing some of the main observations characterizing fertility, gender, and economic growth. We then explore three types of theoretical models: one-sex dynamic, two-sex static, and two-sex dynamic. We conclude that more models of the last type – dynamic models that include gender in the analysis – are needed to analyze issues that involve both an intertemporal and a gender dimension.     

南亚三国农村金融实践及其对我国的启示

通过改善农村金融服务以促进农村脱贫与发展已经成为世界各国之共识,广大发展中国家在这方面进行了艰辛的探索。在研究大量国外第一手资料的基础上,对印度、巴基斯坦、孟加拉国三个南亚国家农村金融实践进行了比较全面的考察,总结分析了构建有效的农村金融服务体系的基本经验和要求,提出了深化我国农村金融改革的具体建议。     

Does religious faith affect household financial market participation? Evidence from China

Based on the 2013 China Household Finance Survey data, this paper investigates the impact of religious faith on household financial market participation and portfolio choice. The results show that religious faith can significantly promote household financial market participation. Besides, religious faith can increase the proportion of risky assets held by households, including equities. We also find that the need for social interaction and human capital accumulation can significantly induce religious residents to participate in financial markets and hold risky assets. Overall, our results reveal how faith affects household finance activities in China.     

The impact of mobile financial services’ usage on microfinance delinquency

This paper studies the impact of Mobile Financial Systems’ usage on microcredit delinquency ratios in Tunisia by using either a two-part model or matching econometric procedures. Our large dataset contains all of the administrative registers that belong to the six branches of Enda, the incumbent Institution leader in Tunisia. We find a significant reduction of 4.92 days of late repayment for an average user of MFS in an environment where 15% of loans have been paid late at least once. We foresee a tremendous opportunity to improve the MFIs’ repayment ratios and, consequently, provide microcredit customers with more financing for income generating activities.     

Structure of Financial Savings During Indian Economic Reforms

This paper conducts nonparametric tests to examine whether data on financial savings in India can be rationalized in terms of a utility function of a representative economic agent. The nonparametric test has an advantage over its parametric counterpart in that it does not assume the existence of a utility function per se and checks whether the representative consumer’s demand structure can at all be rationalized by a utility function. Our test results of the necessary and sufficient conditions of the weak separability hypothesis suggest that data on financial savings in India are consistent with the existence of a utility function for a representative individual with a sub-preference where contractual savings (insurance and provident funds) can be separated out. This result could facilitate the construction of a suitable financial aggregate using these assets.     

Micro and macroeconomic effects of financial innovation in a domestic and international perspective

This paper is focused on the rise and the fall of structured finance, derivatives, and asset-backed securities. Special focus is made on the attempts of the banking sector to improve the economic performance, particularly the ROE, by creating, acquiring, and selling derivatives. The possible outcome of public intervention to rescue the financial sector is finally discussed. V. Coppola supported the research in collecting and elaborating data.     

中国农村金融发展的困境、成因及其破解

长期以来我国农村金融市场的发展受到不同程度上的抑制,农村金融功能难以得到有效发挥,致使金融支农绩效水平低下,影响了新农村建设的加速进程。与已有较多文献不同的是,本文将分别从金融发展规模、结构和效率三个层面对改革开放以来我国农村金融发展困境进行统计描述,结果显示我国农村金融支持的规模、结构及效率与同期全国和城镇水平相比都较为滞后。同时,本文认为导致农村金融发展滞后成因主要有长期的“二元”经济结构、“一刀切”式的金融政策、农村金融机构不良贷款率偏高以及现有农村金融供给体系不断萎缩,最后在此基础之上寻求了四点破解途径,即逐步提高农村劳动生产率水平、实行有差别的金融政策、积极发展农业保险和不断提高自身经营绩效并加强金融监管。     

供应链金融研究综述与展望--基于产业与金融互动机理

文章基于国内外供应链金融研究的相关理论文献,对供应链金融研究的现状进行了总结和梳理。通过比较物流金融和侧重金融的供应链金融研究,提出应从产业整合的视角重新界定供应链金融的实质和内涵。文章基于产业视角将供应链金融模式分为三类：银行等金融机构主导、核心企业主导和第三方物流企业主导。最后基于产业整合视角,总结了供应链金融协同机制研究。通过文献挖掘深入剖析供应链金融的实质、模式和协同机制,以产业的视角建立供应链金融系统的理论分析框架并设计供应链金融的协同发展机制,能够弥补供应链金融理论研究中所缺失的关键内容。     

Does bank competition promote financial inclusion? A cross-country evidence

The idea of financial inclusion has recently been discussed as one of the key strategies to enhance economic development (World Bank 2014). We move this discussion forward by examining if bank competition is a crucial component enforcing financial inclusion, which is arguably a finance supply-side driven process. In this study, we compute the financial inclusion index built on Sarma (2008) approach to better reflect banks’ willingness and capability to provide financial services. Applying System Generalized Method of Moments to the panel of 93 countries, we find that bank competition promotes financial inclusion.     

Individual values and household finances

We create individual cultural values measures for households and show that this is an important determinant of their financial behaviour. To date, personal cultural values have only been indirectly measured through religion and trust. But these are, at best, an approximation of true cultural values. Applying a holistic framework from the World Values Survey (WVS), we create individual measures of cultural values, and show that the self-expression values of this framework are positively associated with households’ financial decisions. Examining the individual cultural values that make up the WVS model, we further show that happiness, trust, and playing an active role in society, are individually important determinants of household financial decision-making. Our study shows that cultural values can be brought from a generalized national level to the individual level in order to improve our understanding of household financial decision-making.     

Financial inclusion: measurement,spatial effects and influencing factors

Using the index of financial inclusion and the World Bank Global Findex database, this study measures the level of financial inclusion across countries. The results reveal a geographical spatial aggregation distribution in which developed European and North American countries enjoy higher levels of financial inclusion than the less developed countries of Africa and most of Asia. Accordingly, our spatial analysis proves our hypothesis and reveals dependence and aggregation effects among countries. Then, we employ spatial econometric research to identify those factors significantly associated with financial inclusion. The results show that an individual’s income, education and use of communications equipment are important factors that explain the level of financial inclusion, while financial depth and banking health status are the main determinants. Building an inclusive financial system is an important means for most countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.     

我国农村正规金融与非正规金融效率分析

高效率的金融制度对经济发展提供强有力的资金支持,可以提高经济的总体竞争力,促进经济增长。对农村信用社、农业银行、农业发展银行和邮政储蓄银行等正规金融机构和村镇银行、小额贷款公司等非正规金融组织的效率进行调查,从资金配置效率、适应性效率和运行效率方面进行分析,结果显示：正规金融制度的效率偏低,非正规金融组织的效率偏高;两种金融制度的效率有各自的空间,在规模和范围较小时,非正规金融制度效率更高,而超出一定的发展范围和规模,正规金融制度的优越性则进一步凸显。     

Husbands,Wives, and Housework: Graduates of Stanford and Tokyo Universities

Barbara Bergmann argues that economic gender equity requires equity not only in paid employment, but also in household work. We examine the household task arrangements of a sample of married 1981 graduates of Stanford and Tokyo (Todai) Universities, about a decade after their graduation. No less than 43 percent of Stanford graduates shared household tasks about equally with their spouse, a much higher sharing rate than for the whole U.S. population. However, only 12 percent of Todai women and 8 percent of Todai men had egalitarian household task arrangements, a sharing rate about equal to that of the whole Japanese population. Holding other variables constant, Stanford men who did at least half of household tasks paid an earnings penalty of about 10 percent. Women who did more than half of household tasks did not pay an earnings penalty. Our examination of task arrangements among dual-career couples provides support for bargaining power theories of the division of household tasks, but suggests that societal ideology plays a critical role in defining the scope for bargaining.     

Financial sector opening and financial constraints: an empirical study based on China’s experiences

ABSTRACT

The paper investigates the effect of financial sector opening on financial constraints based on the experiences in China. We firstly review the policy of China’s financial sector opening and set up exogenous policy measures. Then based on the panel data of listed firms from 2010 to 2015, we calculate four indices to measure China’s firm-level financial constraints through internal and external finance channels. We find that China’s financial sector opening alleviates financial constraints and upgrades the financing structure for China’s listed firms. Financial sector opening also eliminates ownership discrimination and promotes financing efficiency, to alleviate financial constraints of private enterprises and profitable enterprises. The mechanism of the effects of financial sector opening on financial constrain is mainly through the collateral channels and the elimination of information asymmetry.