Call for Papers

The Deutsche Bundesbank and the Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) are organizing a conference on:

Household Finances, Saving and Inequality:
An International Perspective
21 – 22 March 2013
Eltville, Germany

Topics and objectives:
The conference brings together researchers and policymakers with an interest in households’ financial behavior, asset accumulation over the life cycle, wealth distribution, portfolio choice and behavioral household finance.

In order to improve our understanding of households’ financial decision making, their responses to shocks and institutional changes and consequently the transmission process of monetary policy, the National Central Banks in the Eurosystem have set up household surveys with detailed information on household on wealth and portfolio structure. The conference takes place in connection with the release of two brand new household data sets: the first wave of the Bundesbank’s Panel on Household Finances (PHF) and the Eurosystem’s Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), which collects household-level data on households’ finances and consumption across countries in the Eurosystem.

We therefore particularly welcome empirical contributions with a focus on cross-country studies using internationally comparable data sets such as the PHF, SAVE and the new and established household surveys included in the HFCS.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Household saving, consumption and liquidity constraints
• Homeownership and mortgages
• Behavioral aspects of household finance: expectations, preferences and attitudes
• Households’ employment histories and saving decisions
• Asset allocation over the life-cycle
• Household finance and banking
• Financial literacy, cognitive abilities and financial decisions
• Evolution of income and wealth distribution
• Participation in public pensions, occupational pensions and private old-age provision

Data user workshop:
To familiarize researchers with the PHF and statistical techniques needed to work with it, there will be a half-day user workshop organized on the day before the conference in the city center of Frankfurt am Main (March 20). Interested PhD students and researchers are encouraged to register soon as the number of places is limited. Keynote Speakers:
The conference will include keynote lectures by Michael Haliassos (Goethe University Frankfurt) and Michael D. Hurd (RAND). Venue and Participants:
The conference will take place in the Conference Center of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Eltville, situated in the Rhine Valley approximately 50 km from Frankfurt am Main. A conference dinner will be hosted. The conference is open to both young and experienced researchers working on related topics. As the conference intends to strengthen the exchange between practitioners and researchers, participation without paper contribution is also welcome. Due to the limited number of places available in the Bundesbank’s training center in Eltville, we encourage potential participants to register early. Submission of Papers:
Those wishing to present a paper should send a detailed abstract or a full draft of the paper (strongly preferred). All submissions must include a cover page including authors’ full name and affiliation and contact details for corresponding author/s (address, phone and email). All papers or long abstracts should be submitted electronically as doc or pdf files to: phf@bundesbank.de on or before: January 20, 2013. Authors of accepted papers will be notified no later than February 8, 2013. Registration:
Those wishing to attend the conference, but not to present a paper should register by: February 15, 2013, sending an email to phf@bundesbank.de, specifying name, affiliation and contact details (address, phone, email). Those wishing to attend the user workshop on March 20 should contact us no later than January 15, 2013 by writing an e-mail to the above address, specifying occupation, contact details and the professional reason for wishing to participate. There will be a separate announcement for the user workshop. Please note that there is no registration fee. The Call for Papers can be downloaded here: Call for Papers