Title: How Extended Family Mental Health Issues Influence Household Portfolio Allocations

Speaker: Jermaine Toney

Abstract: Growing research links household financial decisions and health status within the nuclear family. However, the focus on the nuclear family could underestimate the health-wealth effect. Previous research finds that household wealth can decline when an extended family member experiences a physical health shock. We expand
current economic modeling to investigate the connection between portfolio allocations and mental health among siblings. We hypothesize that mental health issues outside of the nuclear family unit are a unique contributor to household portfolio allocation decisions. We use panel data and find significant effects of having at least one sibling with a mental health issue on household financial decisions. The effects include decreased probability of risky asset ownership (stocks, mutual funds), decreased risky assets as a share of financial assets, and decreased total amount of risky asset holdings.

Sponsored by the GPSAFC, and open to all graduate students in the field of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell. If you require special assistance to attend this event, please contact Wen Li at wfl34@cornell.edu.