Using household panel data, this paper examines the impact of income uncertainty and house price uncertainty on home ownership in the United Kingdom. The existing literature based on cross-sectional studies finds a negative relationship between income uncertainty and home ownership. This paper...

We survey a representative sample of UK consumers on their understanding of core ‘financial literacy’ concepts in consumer credit. We find levels of financial literacy are generally low in the population. We also find levels of financial literacy are on average actually lower among those who...

Using individual-level panel data, this paper examines the relationship between subjective unemployment expectations and psychological health. Individuals expecting to become unemployed within the next year exhibit higher rates of suffering from anxiety plus worse psychological health based on...

We use UK survey data incorporating measures of financial literacy and behavioral characteristics to analyze the puzzling co-existence of high cost revolving consumer credit alongside low yield liquid savings in household balance sheets, which we term the ‘co-holding puzzle’. Approximately...

We use survey data from a sample of UK households to analyse the association between financial literacy and consumer credit portfolios. Among users of consumer credit there is much variation in levels of financial literacy. Borrowers with poor financial literacy hold higher shares of high cost...

We use UK survey data to analyze the puzzling co-existence of high cost revolving consumer credit alongside low yield liquid savings in household balance sheets, which we name the ‘co-holding puzzle’. Approximately 12% of households in our sample co-hold, on average, £3800 of revolving...

This paper investigates the existence of liquidity constraints facing entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom. Using a household-level panel data set, entry to self-employment is shown to be a function of household net worth. We use inheritances and unanticipated movements in house prices as...

The 'financial accelerator' model when applied to households states that shocks to household balance sheets (primarily changes in house prices) amplify fluctuations in consumer spending by tightening or relaxing collateral constraints on borrowing. We construct an alternative model where...

Using household panel data, this paper examines the impact of income uncertainty, in the form of unemployment risk, on home ownership in the United Kingdom. The existing literature based on cross-sectional studies finds a negative relationship between income uncertainty and home ownership. This...