Social Security and the Equity Premium Puzzle

Conny Olovsson

No 729, Seminar Papers from Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies

Abstract: This paper shows that social security may be an important factor in explaining the equity premium puzzle. In the absence of shortselling constraints, the young shortsell bonds to the middle-aged and buy equity. Social security reduces the bond demand of the middle-aged, thereby restricting the possibilities of the young to finance their equity purchases. They demand less equity and the return to equity goes up. Social security also increases the covariance between future consumption and the equity income of the young. The efect on the equity premium is substantial. In fact, a model with social security and borrowing constraints can generate a fairly realistic equity premium.

Keywords: Asset prices; the equity premium puzzle; social security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G12 H55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2004-03-16
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fin
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iiessp:0729

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