Optimal Consumption and Investment Decisions Under Time-Varying Risk Attitudes
Author | : Felix Hentschel |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 27 |
Release | : 2015 |
Genre | : |
ISBN | : |
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When finding the optimal consumption and investment decision rules of an individual, accounting for a change in the risk aversion over the life cycle is an important aspect. Different methods are suggested in the literature. This paper combines the two approaches of including a habit level (see e.g. Constantinides, 1990) and a coefficient of time-varying risk aversion (see e.g. Steffensen, 2011). The optimal decision rules are derived in a complete market and examined in a numerical analysis.Our findings show that with a coefficient of time-varying risk aversion, the shape of the decision rules, rather than just their magnitude, depends on the initial wealth of the individual. Furthermore, a time-increasing risk aversion and sufficiently large habit formation lead to a hump-shaped consumption pattern and a decreasing investment into the risky asset, as observed in the literature.