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The Asset Portfolios of Native‐born and Foreign‐born Australian Households *
Author(s) -
COBBCLARK DEBORAH A.,
HILDEBRAND VINCENT A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2008.00528.x
Subject(s) - foreign born , native born , immigration , asset (computer security) , constraint (computer aided design) , economics , net worth , demographic economics , inequality , diversity (politics) , labour economics , geography , sociology , finance , mathematics , debt , mathematical analysis , geometry , computer security , archaeology , computer science , anthropology
This paper analyses the net worth and asset portfolios of native‐ and foreign‐born Australian families. Specifically, we estimate a system of asset equations with an adding‐up constraint imposed to control for diversity in household wealth. We find that the wealth of mixed and native‐born couples is not significantly different; however, immigrant‐only couples have approximately $162 000 less wealth than native‐born couples. Relative to equally wealthy native‐born couples, immigrant‐only couples hold substantially more wealth in their homes and less in the form of vehicles. Mixed couples and single individuals allocate their wealth across assets in the same way their native‐born counterparts.