@techreport{NBERw2392,
 title = "Asset Accumulation, Information, and the Life Cycle",
 author = "Mervyn A. King and Jonathan I. Leape",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "2392",
 year = "1987",
 month = "September",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w2392",
 abstract = {Empirical tests of the life cycle model have focused on its implications for the level of a household's total net worth and paid little attention to changes in portfolio composition over the life cycle. In this paper, we examine a new survey of the asset holdings of 6,010 U.S households and show that there is a pronounced life-cycle pattern to both the number and value of assets held by U.S. households. Direct survey evidence suggests that incomplete information is a significant determinant of household portfolio composition. We test the hypothesis that information about investment opportunities arrives stochastically over time, estimating a Poisson model for the arrival of new information.},
}