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Manju Puri, David Robinson
NBER Working Paper No. 11361*
Issued in May 2005
NBER Program(s): AP
CF
---- Abstract -----
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.
*Published: Puri, Manju & Robinson, David T., 2007.
"Optimism and economic choice,"
Journal of Financial Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 71-99, October.
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