Pandemic, Precautionary Saving, and Household Portfolio Choice: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT We examine the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household asset allocation in China. The results show that in the first quarter of 2020, households generally save more. Basically, higher regional risk generates stronger motivation to increase precautionary savings. Households generally adapt to more conservative asset allocation strategies, the demand for low-risk asset increases, while the demand for high-risk and high-liquidity asset decreases. We find significant regional differences in household allocation strategies for high-risk and low-risk assets. These results could be due to the regional heterogeneity of time allocations.