A Canonical Correlation Analysis of Financial Risk-Taking by Australian Households

Abstract

This paper examines the relationships between a range of alternative proxies commonly used to represent financial risk-taking, including self-reported risk-taking attitude and direct stock and business ownership, and a set of personal attributes, including age, education, sex, household structure, household income, and net assets. This allows us to throw light on the complex interrelationships between financial risk-taking attitudes and behavior, the purported socioeconomic and demographic determinants of risk-taking attitudes, and some specification issues that commonly apply in this area of research.