With spring finally arrived, flowers are not the only things blossoming these days! The WISE schedule is also blooming with new events!
Next Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 12.30-2 pm in Room 9C, WISE will be proud to host Giacomo Pasini, PhD and former student of the SSE, who will present his work on "Debt and Social interactions", joint work with Dimitris Georgarakos e Michalis Haliassos.
Here is an abstract of his presentation.
ABSTRACT
At the heart of the recent financial turmoil lies the inability of households to pay off their debts. Part of this inability is due to macro conditions, such as house prices. However, it is households themselves who borrowed excessively, making themselves vulnerable to such macro swings. This paper focuses on some possible determinants of household debt behavior beyond intertemporal consumption smoothing. We empirically find that concern for status within a social network increase indebtness, while friends and acquaintances can provide an alternative source of credit thus reducing indebtness.
Please note lunch will take place before the seminar, between 12.30 and 1 pm, with the presentation starting only at 1 pm. Remember also that WISE went green, thus we kindly ask you to confirm by email your participation to the seminar in due time, in order to allow to prepare the right amount of food.
Looking forward to seeing you all at WISE!
-the WISE staff
The blog of the Wednesday Informal Seminar in Economics (WISE)