Wealth Composition and Stock Market Participation: Evidence from Italy

Wealth Composition and Stock Market Participation: Evidence from Italy | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Wealth Composition and Stock Market Participation: Evidence from Italy Niccolo' Altini This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8758402/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Using Italian household panel data for 2006--2022, this paper studies how wealth composition is associated with stock market participation. I estimate a correlated random effects probit for unbalanced panels and recover Average Partial Effects that quantify how portfolio composition relates to participation, conditional on net wealth, income, risk aversion, and demographics. A larger share of wealth held in real estate or private business equity is associated with a significantly lower probability of stock market participation. These effects are economically meaningful and become stronger at higher wealth levels. The paper’s main contribution is methodological as well as substantive: it provides a rigorous and economically interpretable quantification of wealth composition effects in a rotating unbalanced panel. The heterogeneity results are difficult to reconcile with a purely liquidity-based interpretation and are consistent with the view that concentrated illiquid wealth may discourage stockholding. JEL Classification: G11 , D14 , C23 , D81 stock market participation wealth composition correlated random effects unbalanced panels Italy Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8758402","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":627008807,"identity":"c0b8d997-30be-43b4-b9b3-b3cd3c23f41b","order_by":0,"name":"Niccolo' Altini","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABE0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACfvb2w49/VNiA2AZALAHEjA1gKTYcWiR7zqQZM5xJY+ABa0lA1oJDj8GNBANpxrbDMC3IcrisuZGQYFxw5ry9vUTyxseFPywYDG43t274uMeGgU++AasOxp6HBx7PqLid2CORVmw8A+gwgzsH227OeJaG02HM7AkJBjxnbifwSOSYSfOAtNxIbLvNc+AwTi1sDAkGErxt5+yBWsx/I2n5j1MLDwfQ+7xtBxh7gLYwI2k5gFOLBM+ZNMMZZ5ITe848K5bmSZPgkQRquTnjQDIPG1sCVi32x9sPP/hQYWfP3p688TOPTZ0c3430Zzc+HLCTk28+gN0aDJdiMEbBKBgFo2AUkA4AeeFc0/tYWxMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Modena and Reggio Emilia","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Niccolo'","middleName":"","lastName":"Altini","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-01 19:08:20","currentVersionCode":2,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8758402/v2","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8758402/v2","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107706704,"identity":"14caa9ab-508d-4b1d-a022-7ea69dda75c0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 09:18:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":314403,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"NiccoloAltiniWealthCompositionandStockMarketParticipation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8758402/v2_covered_6ac4397b-1f51-4583-9bca-326d6ed4179c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"Wealth Composition and Stock Market Participation: Evidence from Italy","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"stock market participation, wealth composition, correlated random effects, unbalanced panels, Italy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8758402/v2","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8758402/v2","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUsing Italian household panel data for 2006--2022, this paper studies how wealth composition is associated with stock market participation. 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