Risk-Sharing, Vulnerability and the Global Financial Crisis

Abstract

Tests using Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia unit record data from 2006-07 to 2010-11 indicate that Australian households on average insure against idiosyncratic income shocks. For a 10 per cent change in income, non-durable expenditures change by 0.14 per cent, while food expenditures change by 0.05 per cent; both results are statistically insignificant. Non-durable expenditures respond asymmetrically to positive and negative income shocks, especially during the Global Financial Crisis, rising by 0.1 per cent for a 10 per cent income rise but falling by 0.6 per cent for a 10 per cent income decline in 2009; the latter result is statistically significant. Controlling for risk tolerance heterogeneity yields identical results.