Title:What Do CEOs Do?
Author(s):BANDIERA, Oriana; GUISO, Luigi; PRAT, Andrea; SADUN, RaffaellaDate:2011-01-01Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:We develop a methodology to collect and analyze data on CEO’s time use. The idea sketched out in a simple theoretical set-up is that CEO time is a scarce resource and its allocation can help us identify the firm’s priorities ...
Title:Detecting Propagation Effects by Observing Aggregate Distributions: The Case of Lumpy Investments
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; LAI, Chaoqun; NIREI, MakotoDate:2011-01-01Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:By using an extensive panel data set of Italian firms, we show empirically that the fraction of firms that engage in a lumpy investment follows a non-normal, double-exponential distribution across region-year. We propose ...
Title:Understanding the Size and Profitability of Firms: The Role of a Biological Factor
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; RUSTICHINI, AldoDate:2011-01-01Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:We collect information on prenatal testosterone in a large sample of entrepreneurs by measuring the length of their 2th to 4th fingers in face to face interviews. Entrepreneurs with higher exposure to prenatal testosterone ...
Title:What Drives Women Out of Entrepreneurship? The Joint Role of Testosterone and Culture
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; RUSTICHINI, AldoDate:2011-01-01Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:The ratio of second to fourth digit (2D4D) has been shown to correlate negatively with entrepreneurial skills and financial success. We document that in a sample of entrepreneurs women have a lower 2D4D ratio than men, in ...
Title:The Role of Intuition and Reasoning in Driving Aversion to Risk and Ambiguity
Author(s):BUTLER, Jeffrey V.; GUISO, Luigi; JAPPELLI, TullioDate:2011-01-01Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:Using information on a large sample of retail investors and experimental data we find that risk aversion and risk ambiguity are correlated: individuals who dislike risk also dislike ambiguity. We show that what links these ...
Title:What Determines Entrepreneurial Clusters?
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; SCHIVARDI, FabianoDate:2011Type of Publication:ArticleAbstract:We contrast two potential explanations of the substantial differences in entrepreneurial activity observed across geographical areas: entry costs and external effects. We extend the Lucas model of entrepreneurship to allow ...
Title:Civic Capital as the Missing Link
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; SAPIENZA, Paola; ZINGALES, LuigiDate:2010Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:This chapter reviews the recent debate about the role of social capital in economics. We argue that all the difficulties this concept has encountered in economics are due to a vague and excessively broad definition. For ...
Title:A Trust-Driven Financial Crisis. Implications for the Future of Financial Markets
Author(s):GUISO, LuigiDate:2010Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:The financial crisis has brought to light diffuse opportunistic behaviour and some serious frauds. Because of this trust towards banks, bankers, brokers and the stock market has collapsed to unprecedented levels and there ...
Title:The Determinants of Attitudes towards Strategic Default on Mortgages
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; SAPIENZA, Paola; ZINGALES, LuigiDate:2010Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:We use survey data to study American households’ propensity to default when the value of their
mortgage exceeds the value of their house even if they can afford to pay their mortgage (strategic
default). The cost of ...
Title:Durable Consumption and Asset Management with Transaction and Observation Costs
Author(s):ALVAREZ, Fernando; GUISO, Luigi; LIPPI, FrancescoDate:2010Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:The empirical evidence on rational inattention lags far behind the theoretical developments:
micro evidence on the most immediate consequence of observation costs
- the infrequent observation of state variables - is not ...
Title:Credit within the Firm
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; PISTAFERRI, Luigi; SCHIVARDI, FabianoDate:2010Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:We exploit time variation in the degree of development of local credit markets and matched employer-employee data to assess the role of the firm as an internal credit market. In less developed local credit markets firms ...
Title:The Structure of Multiple Credit Relationships: Evidence From US Firms
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; MINETTI, RaoulDate:2010Type of Publication:ArticleAbstract:When firms borrow from multiple concentrated creditors such as banks they appear to differentiate their allocation of borrowing. In this paper, we put forward hypotheses for this borrowing pattern based on incomplete ...
Title:Moral and Social Constraints to Strategic Default on Mortgages
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; SAPIENZA, Paola; ZINGALES, LuigiDate:2009Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:We use survey data to study American households‘ propensity to default when the value of their mortgage exceeds the value of their house even if they can afford to pay their mortgage (strategic default). We find that 26% ...
Title:A Test of Narrow Framing and Its Origin
Author(s):GUISO, LuigiDate:2009Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:I provide a test of narrow framing to explain why individuals turn down small positive expected value lotteries. Participants in a large survey have been asked whether they would accept a small lottery of winning 180 euros ...
Title:The Right Amount of Trust
Author(s):BUTLER, Jeffrey V.; GIULIANO, Paola; GUISO, LuigiDate:2009Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:A vast literature has investigated the relationship between trust and aggregate economic performance. We investigate the relationship between individual trust and individual economic performance. We find that individual ...
Title:Cultural Biases in Economic Exchange?
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; SAPIENZA, Paola; ZINGALES, LuigiDate:2009Type of Publication:ArticleAbstract:How much do cultural biases affect economic exchange? We answer this question by using data on bilateral trust between European countries. We document that this trust is affected not only by the characteristics of the ...
Title:Pension Risk, Retirement Saving and Insurance
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; JAPPELLI, Tullio; PADULA, MarioDate:2009Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:Using a representative sample of Italian investors, we estimate the risk associated with
pension benefits by eliciting for each individual the subjective distribution of the
replacement rate as a summary indicator of ...
Title:Financial Literacy and Portfolio Diversification
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; JAPPELLI, TullioDate:2008Type of Publication:Working PaperSeries/Report no.:EUI ECOAbstract:In this paper we focus on poor financial literacy as one potential factor explaining lack of portfolio diversification. We use the 2007 Unicredit Customers’ Survey, which has indicators of portfolio choice, financial ...
Title:Trusting the Stock Market
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; SAPIENZA, Paola; ZINGALES, LuigiDate:2008Type of Publication:ArticleAbstract:We study the effect that a general lack of trust can have on stock market participation. In deciding whether to buy stocks, investors factor in the risk of being cheated. The perception of this risk is a function of the ...
Title:Risk Aversion, Wealth, and Background Risk
Author(s):GUISO, Luigi; PAIELLA, MonicaDate:2008Type of Publication:ArticleAbstract:We use household survey data to construct a direct measure of absolute risk aversion based on the maximum price a consumer is willing to pay for a risky security. We relate this measure to consumer's endowments and attributes ...