A Multilevel Heckman model to investigate financial assets among older people in Europe

This paper applies a multilevel Heckman model to investigate the household behaviour (in an ageing population) on portfolio choices across Europe. Exploiting the richness of the data collected by the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, both the ownership pattern and the amount invested in short-term and long-term assets are analysed. This statistical solution is suitable to take into account both the hierarchical nature of the data and the features of the variables of interest. Model estimates support the choice of a multilevel framework. The sample selection approach allows to highlight different results when analysing the ownership of a financial product rather than the amount invested in it.