Economic Policy Uncertainty and Stock Market Participation

Oct 29 2018
PAST EVENT

Economic Policy Uncertainty and Stock Market Participation

Speaker: Dr Dimitris Georgarakos is a Senior Economist at the DG-Research in the European Central Bank. His research focuses on household finance, monetary policy, and financial stability. His publications have appeared in journals such as the Review of Financial Studies, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of the European Economic Association and the Economic Journal.

Abstract: Does economic policy uncertainty affect household stockholding? To answer this question, we create a novel measure of household exposure to economic policy uncertainty news by combining survey information on the hours a household spends in reading newspapers and the frequency of such news in the popular press during a household’s pre-interview period. We find that households with a higher exposure to economic policy uncertainty news are less likely to invest in stocks held directly or through mutual funds.

The event was jointly organized by the IFFR and The Hellenic Fund and Asset Management Association.