Luxembourg Wealth Study

LUXEMBOURG

WEALTH

STUDY

The Luxembourg Wealth Study:
Enhancing Comparative Research on Household Finance
Banca d’Italia, Roma, 5-7 July 2007

Thu., July 5

OPENING ADDRESS

Ignazio Visco
(Bank of Italy, Member of the Board)
Opening Address

SESSION 1
The LWS Project: Description and Suggestive Initial Exercises

Chair: Janet Gornick (City University of New York and LIS Director)

Presentation

Eva Sierminska (LIS and DIW, Berlin), Andrea Brandolini (Bank of Italy) and Timothy Smeeding (Syracuse University):
“Comparing wealth distribution across rich countries: The Luxembourg Wealth Study”

Presentation

Markus Jäntti (Åbo Akademi University and LIS), Eva Sierminska (LIS and DIW, Berlin), and Timothy Smeeding (Syracuse University):
“Presenting joint distributions of income and wealth”

Presentation

Emilia Niskanen (LIS) and Timothy Smeeding (Syracuse University):
“Income from labour and income from wealth: An exploratory analysis”

SESSION 2
Technical Issues: Over-sampling, Weighting and Imputation

Chair: Giovanni D’Alessio (Bank of Italy)

Presentation

Arthur Kennickell (Federal Reserve Board of Governors):
“The role of over-sampling of the wealth in the Survey of Consumer Finances”

Leandro D’Aurizio (Bank of Italy), Ivan Faiella (Bank of Italy), Stefano Iezzi (Bank of Italy) and Andrea Neri (Bank of Italy):
“The under-reporting of households’ financial assets in Italy

”Discussant: Paul Alkemade (LIS)

Presentation

Fredrik Johansson (Uppsala University) and Anders Klevmarken (Uppsala University):
“Comparing register and survey wealth data”

Joachim Frick (DIW, Berlin), Markus Grabka (DIW, Berlin) and Eva Sierminska (LIS and DIW, Berlin):
“The impact of methodological decisions around imputation: the case of wealth data”

Discussant: Romina Gambacorta (Bank of Italy)

Fri., July 6

SESSION 3
Portfolio Choice and Wealth Effects

Chair: Giorgio Gobbi (Bank of Italy)

Presentation

Dimitris Christelis (University of Salerno), Tullio Jappelli (University of Naples Federico II) and Mario Padula (University of Salerno):
“Cognitive abilities and portfolio choice”

Maarten van Rooij (De Nederlandsche Bank), Annamaria Lusardi (Dartmouth College) and Rob Alessie (Utrecht University):
“Financial literacy and stock market participation”

Discussant: Marcello Bofondi (Bank of Italy)

Presentation

Dimitris Christelis (University of Salerno), Dimitris Georgarakos (Goethe University Frankfurt) and Michael Haliassos (Goethe University Frankfurt): “Economic integration: The mature portfolios criterion”

Monica Paiella (Bank of Italy):
“The stock market, housing and consumer spending. Direct wealth effects, common causality and borrowing constraints: Survey of the evidence”

Discussant: Silvia Magri (Bank of Italy)

Mario Draghi (Bank of Italy, Governor)
“Household wealth in central bank policy analysis”

SESSION 4
Wealth matters. Why we need cross-country comparable micro-data on household net worth

Chair: Daniele Franco (Bank of Italy)

The macroeconomic effects of the indebtedness of the household sector, rapid changes in housing prices and mortgage practices are issues that cannot be convincingly analysed on the basis of aggregate information only. More fundamentally, information on the distribution of net worth is crucial because family assets are called now to play an even greater role in buffering life uncertainties, as rich economies have experienced in last decades a shift of risk from the State to the households brought about by restraining welfare states, changing pension arrangements and falling job security. Ageing is also contributing to shift the weight in life-cycle income from labour earnings to capital income and pension transfers. The balance between private and public insurance schemes and the role of both public and private capital redistribution (inheritances and inter-vivos transfers) relative to public sector income redistribution need to be reconsidered. The analysis of these questions points to the increasing need of detailed and reliable micro-data on household finance that can be compared across countries.

Presentation

Panel Discussion:
Anthony Atkinson (Nuffield College, Oxford)
James Davies (University of Western Ontario)
Angus Deaton (Princeton University)
Tullio Jappelli (University of Naples Federico II)

SESSION 5
Pension Wealth and Housing -

Chair: Fabio Panetta (Bank of Italy)

Presentation

Agar Brugiavini (University of Venice), Enrica Croda (University of Venice) and Franco Peracchi (University of Rome Tor Vergata):
“Retirement patterns in Europe: The effect of health”

Michel Palardy (Statistics Canada) and Catherine Van Rompaey (Statistics Canada):
“Pension wealth in the Canadian context: Lessons for LWS”

Discussant: Eliana Viviano (Bank of Italy)

Presentation

Maria Concetta Chiuri (University of Bari) and Tullio Jappelli (University of Naples Federico II):
“Do the Elderly Reduce Housing Equity? An International Comparison”

Alena Bičáková (European University Institute) and Eva Sierminska (LIS and DIW, Berlin):
“Homeownership inequality and the access to credit markets”

Discussant: Ernesto Villanueva (Bank of Spain)

SESSION 6
Wealth Inequality

Chair: Arthur Kennickell (Federal Reserve Board of Governors)

Presentation

James Davies (University of Western Ontario), Susanna Sandstrom (UNU-WIDER), Anthony Shorrocks (UNU-WIDER) and Edward Wolff (New York University):
“The world distribution of household wealth”

Olympia Bover (Bank of Spain):
“Wealth inequality and household structure: US vs. Spain”

Discussant: Francisco Ferreira (World Bank)

Presentation

Pirmin Fessler (Oesterreichische Nationalbank), Peter Mooslechner (Oesterreichische Nationalbank) and Martin Schürz (Oesterreichische Nationalbank):
“How inheritances relate to wealth distribution? Theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence on the basis of LWS data”

Stephen Jenkins (University of Essex) and Markus Jäntti (Åbo Akademi University and LIS):
“Wealth distributions in LWS countries”

Discussant: Pietro Rizza (Bank of Italy)

Sat. July 7

SESSION 7
Women and Wealth

Chair: Daniela Monacelli (Bank of Italy)

Presentation

Eva Sierminska (LIS and DIW, Berlin), Markus Grabka (DIW, Berlin) and Joachim Frick (DIW, Berlin):
“Disentangling the gender wealth gap within and across households”

Janet Gornick (City University of New York and LIS), Eva Sierminska (LIS and DIW, Berlin) and Timothy Smeeding (Syracuse University):
“Older women’s income and wealth packages: the five-legged stool in cross-national perspective”

SESSION 8
Developing Projects

Chair: Timothy Smeeding (Syracuse University)

Presentation

Presentation

Presentation

Riccardo De Bonis (Bank of Italy), Daniele Fano (Pioneer Investments) and Teresa Sbano (Pioneer Investments):
“The household aggregate financial wealth: evidence from selected OECD countries”

Michael Ehrmann (European Central Bank), Carlos Sánchez Muñoz (European Central Bank), Philip Vermeulen (European Central Bank) and Caroline Willeke (European Central Bank):
“Plans for a euro area survey on household finance and consumption”

Angela Donkin (Department for Work and Pensions):
“An update on the GB Wealth and Assets Survey”

Final Session
Summary and Wrap up

Chair: Luigi Federico Signorini (Bank of Italy)

Panel Discussion:
Luigi Federico Signorini (Bank of Italy)
Markus Jäntti (Åbo Akademi University and LIS)
Timothy Smeeding (Syracuse University)

The Luxembourg Wealth Study: Enhancing Comparative Research on Household Finance Banca d’Italia, Roma, 5-7 July 2007

The Luxembourg Wealth Study:
Enhancing Comparative Research on Household Finance
Banca d’Italia, Roma, 5-7 July 2007