Until now, the majority of individuals does not hold stocks. In our sample, only 20.5% of individuals directly or indirectly participate in the stock market. Using data from the SHARE Study (N=54,636), we investigate at the individual level the effect of personality traits and at the country level the effect of Quality of Government while controlling for several sociodemographic factors. We prove that Openness to experience and Agreeableness significantly influence stock market participation. Agreeable people who are less open to new experiences are more likely to hold stocks. We also report mixed effects for Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Neuroticism. Extraversion seems to influence stock market participation through its effect on education and Neuroticism through its effect on both education and Quality of Government. Additionally, countries with a higher level of Quality of Government have a higher participation rate. Lastly, we find that the strength of the effects of Openness and Extraversion depends on the level of Quality of Government. We contribute to the explanation of the non-participation puzzle and give implications for policy makers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-406023 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Jasper, Sophie |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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