Student debt and stock-ownership decisions of U.S. households

ABSTRACT

This study contributes to the literature on the stock-holding puzzle by examining the effects of student debt on the decision of U.S. households to own stocks in non-retirement accounts. The study uses longitudinal data from the 2011 to 2017 U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics for the analyses. The results show that households with student debt have a lower probability of owning stocks in a non-retirement account compared to households without student debt. The results also show that the amount of student debt is associated negatively to the decision to own stocks in a non-retirement account. The findings suggest that the financial constraints associated with student debt may influence stock ownership in a non-retirement account.

KEYWORDS:

• Student loan
• debt
• stock ownership
• stock investment

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• D14
• E20
• G11
• I22

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Russell James and the doctoral students in the Research Seminar in Asset Management class of 2019 for their insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.