Optimism and Economic Choice / Manju Puri, David Robinson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Puri, Manju.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Robinson, David.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w11361.

NBER working paper series no. w11361

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2005.

Summary:

This paper presents some of the first large-scale survey evidence linking optimism to major economic choices. We create a novel measure of optimism using the Survey of Consumer Finance by comparing a person's self-reported life expectancy to that implied by statistical tables. Optimists are more likely to believe that future economic conditions will improve. Self-employed respondents are more optimistic than regular wage earners. In general, more optimistic people work harder and anticipate longer age-adjusted work careers. They are more likely to remarry, conditional on divorce. In addition, they tilt their investment portfolios more toward individual stocks.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2005.