Economic Crisis Effect on Asset Choices for Personal Investments

Abstract The economic literature documents that extreme events can induce changes in risk propensity. This study investigates if the 2008/2009 crisis affected the investment behavior of tens of thousands of citizens living in different regions of the United States for different assets. The results obtained by means of logit models suggest that the crisis of 2008/2009 may have induced significant changes in investment preferences for different assets such as trust, bonds, real estate, and retirement planning. This study's results may contribute to public policies concerning household investment behavior, especially during times of crisis, in addition to guiding the proposal of new financial products by the finance industry.