Taxation, Risk-Taking, and Household Portfolio Behavior / James M. Poterba.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Poterba, James M.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w8340.

NBER working paper series no. w8340

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2001.

Summary:

This paper summarizes the current state of research on how taxation affects household decisions with respect to portfolio structure and asset trading. It discusses long-standing issues, such as the impact of differential taxation of income flows from stocks and bonds on the incentives for households to invest in these assets, and the effect of capital gains taxation on asset sales. It also addresses a range of emerging issues, such as the impact of taxation on the behavior of mutual funds and their investors, and the effect of tax changes and tax uncertainty on investor behavior. It concludes that taxation exerts a systematic influence on the nature of risk-taking and the structure of household portfolios. Research on the effects of taxation on portfolio structure is more advanced than work on the welfare costs of portfolio distortions.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2001.