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 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...

This paper examines the relationship between self-control, financial literacy and over-indebtedness on consumer credit debt among UK consumer. Lack of selfcontrol and financial illiteracy are positively associated with non-payment of consumer credit and self-reported excessive financial burdens...

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...

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...

We examine the impact of unanticipated housing capital gains on consumption behavior using data from the British Household Panel Survey and county-level house price data. We condition the models on household financial expectations and on household real financial capital gains imputed from the...

We use household panel data to explore the link between changes in house prices and household indebtedness (both secured on housing assets and unsecured) in the United Kingdom. We show that households which are borrowing-constrained by a lack of housing equity as collateral make greater use of...

We examine the impact of housing wealth on labour supply using exogenous local variations in house prices and household panel data for Britain. Our analysis controls for variations in local labour demand and income expectations which might co-determine house prices and labour supply. We find...