Essays in household finance

Household finance is a young and vibrant research field that continuously attracts public attention. There may be very few matters that people care so much about as their personal finance. Recent rise of academic interest in household finance is to a great extent due to households’ more active role in their financial decisions, including the choice of financial markets to participate in, financial intermediaries and financial instruments to be used. The chapters of this thesis contribute to the field by providing new empirical evidence on some important aspects. Chapter 1 analysis the role of the health care systems generosity – and a complementary protection provided via intergenerational care arrangements – in households’ portfolio choice. Chapter 2 investigates the determinants of household’s decision to switch its bank, in particular focusing on the features of their relationship. Chapter 3 exploits a natural experiment to identify the importance of the mortgage refinancing costs in retail banking, highlighting the defining role of clients’ financial sophistication and competition