IMPACTS OF RISK PREFERENCE AND SOCIAL INSURANCE ON HOUSEHOLD FINANCIAL MARKET PARTICIPATION IN CHINA: ARE THERE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL RESIDENTS?

This letter examines the impact of risk preference and social insurance on household financial market participation and diversification using the 2017 and 2019 China Household Finance Survey. A multi-value treatment model is used to address the selection bias between risk preference and household f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wei Yang, Zhaohua Li, Le Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Tuwhera Open Access Publisher 2024-02-01
Series:Applied Finance Letters
Online Access:https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/applied-finance-letters/article/view/713
Description
Summary:This letter examines the impact of risk preference and social insurance on household financial market participation and diversification using the 2017 and 2019 China Household Finance Survey. A multi-value treatment model is used to address the selection bias between risk preference and household financial investment, considering the moderation role of social insurance in between. Overall, our results show that high-risk takers are more likely to participate in the financial market and diversify their portfolios than low risk takers. Focusing on rural and urban differentials, we find marked differences in the impacts of risk preference and social insurance on household financial investment. Having social insurance may widen the difference in investment decisions between high- and low-risk takers in urban areas; the latter group tends not to participate in or diversify when socially insured. In contrast, having social insurance encourages low- and intermediate-risk preferred rural households to participate in the financial market and diversify their financial portfolios. Our work highlights the different consequences of social insurance on investment incentives of the rural and urban households. Whilst the obvious benefits of having social insurance for rural households via risk-sharing, there is undesired consequence of incentive distortion of urban households.
ISSN:2253-5799
2253-5802