455 research outputs found
Intertemporal choice and the cross-sectional variance of marginal utility
No full textThe theory of intertemporal choice predicts that the cross-sectional variance of the marginal utility of consumption is equal to its own lag plus a constant and a random component. Using general preference specifications and some assumptions about the nature of the random component, we provide an explicit test of this hypothesis. Our approach circumvents the necessity to identify a pure age profile of the cross-sectional variance of consumption and yields a well-specified statistical test. This test is applied to data from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy. The results are remarkably consistent with the restrictions implied by the theory of intertemporal consumption choices
Inequality in Living Standards since 1980: Income Tells Only a Small Part of the Story
No full textStudies of wage and income inequality among U.S. citizens over the past thirty years have engendered the common wisdom that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. But is it really that simple? In this meticulous economic study, Orazio P. Attanasio, Erich Battistin, and Mario Padula contend that the evolution of income and wage inequalities offers only a partial picture of changes in prosperity in recent decades. Studying changes in the distribution of consumption and expenditure helps to amplify this picture--income, after all, is valued in large part because it allows consumption--and yields a more complete understanding of economic well-being in America.
Inequality in Living Standards since 1980: Income Tells Only a Small Part of the Story finds that income-poor households do not always coincide with consumption-poor households--income-poor households often report spending considerably higher than their income level. Income and consumption patterns also vary according to the age and education level of an individual or household head; a thorough and nuanced understanding of economic well-being should therefore consider both differences across groups and inequalities within groups. Finally, examining income levels in conjunction with consumption patterns provides valuable insights about the nature of income shocks that affect households (whether positive or negative) and the instruments available for smoothing out these shocks, such as personal savings, borrowing, and private or public transfers. Temporary shocks may not affect consumption and welfare at all, while the effects of permanent shocks on the same variables are more significant.
Has economic inequality worsened in the United States since 1980? Attanasio, Battistin, and Padula conclude that although inequality as measured by consumption has increased, that increase is not as large as when inequality is measured by income and wages alone. This thorough analysis has important implications for the design of U.S. economic policy and welfare programs in the twenty-first century
The Family in Flux: Household Decision-Making in Latin America
No full textThis book breaks away from the exclusively macroeconomic focus of development studies to bring the spotlight to the place where decisions are made: households. Complementing this microeconomic view with an aggregate approach, this volume uncovers clues to declining fertility, skyrocketing female labor force participation and many other phenomena that are changing the face of economic activity in Latin America. Insights gleaned from the five in-depth case studies and the policy implication chapters should prove invaluable to scholars, development practitioners and policy-makers alike
The Family in Flux: Household Decision-Making in Latin America
No full textThis book breaks away from the exclusively macroeconomic focus of development studies to bring the spotlight to the place where decisions are made: households. Complementing this microeconomic view with an aggregate approach, this volume uncovers clues to declining fertility, skyrocketing female labor force participation and many other phenomena that are changing the face of economic activity in Latin America. Insights gleaned from the five in-depth case studies and the policy implication chapters should prove invaluable to scholars, development practitioners and policy-makers alike
Solution and solid state electron spin resonance properties of some dihydrido paramagnetic Ir(IV) complexes.
No full textThe ESR behaviour of [Ir(IV)(H)2(CI)2(P-i-Pr3)2] and [Ir(IV)(H)2(CI)2(PCy3)2], both in frozen solution and in the solid state is reported. At 1 10 K the frozen solution spectra of these highly distorted octahedral complexes permit the observation of weak, rhombic ESR signals with parameters close to the free electron g-value. In agreement with previous NMR data, these signals are ascribed to the low concentration of Ir(IV) present in solution. In the solid state the Ir(IV) complexes are responsible for a broad, featureless ESR line, whereas superimposed signals represent the initial stage of photoreaction involving reductive elimination of HCI and formation of a square-planar Ir(II) species
The demand for money, financial innovation, and the welfare cost of inflation: an analysis with household data
No full textWe use microeconomic data on households to estimate the parameters of the demand for currency derived from a generalized Baumol-Tobin model. Our data set contains information on average currency, deposits, and other interest-bearing assets; the number of trips to the bank; the size of withdrawals; and ownership and use of ATM cards. We model the demand for currency accounting for adoption of new transaction technologies and the decision to hold interest-bearing assets. The interest rate and expenditure flow elasticities of the demand for currency are close to the theoretical values implied by standard inventory models. However, we find significant differences between individuals with an ATM card and those without. The estimates of the demand for currency allow us to calculate a measure of the welfare cost of inflation analogous to Bailey's triangle, but based on a rigorous microeconometric framework. The welfare cost of inflation varies considerably within the population but never turns out to be very large (about 0.1 percent of consumption or less). Our results are robust to various changes in the econometric specification. In addition to the main results based on the average stock of currency, the model receives further support from the analysis of the number of trips to and average withdrawals from the bank and the ATM
Inequality in Living Standards since 1980: Income Tells Only a Small Part of the Story
No full textStudies of wage and income inequality among U.S. citizens over the past thirty years have engendered the common wisdom that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. But is it really that simple? In this meticulous economic study, Orazio P. Attanasio, Erich Battistin, and Mario Padula contend that the evolution of income and wage inequalities offers only a partial picture of changes in prosperity in recent decades. Studying changes in the distribution of consumption and expenditure helps to amplify this picture--income, after all, is valued in large part because it allows consumption--and yields a more complete understanding of economic well-being in America.
Inequality in Living Standards since 1980: Income Tells Only a Small Part of the Story finds that income-poor households do not always coincide with consumption-poor households--income-poor households often report spending considerably higher than their income level. Income and consumption patterns also vary according to the age and education level of an individual or household head; a thorough and nuanced understanding of economic well-being should therefore consider both differences across groups and inequalities within groups. Finally, examining income levels in conjunction with consumption patterns provides valuable insights about the nature of income shocks that affect households (whether positive or negative) and the instruments available for smoothing out these shocks, such as personal savings, borrowing, and private or public transfers. Temporary shocks may not affect consumption and welfare at all, while the effects of permanent shocks on the same variables are more significant.
Has economic inequality worsened in the United States since 1980? Attanasio, Battistin, and Padula conclude that although inequality as measured by consumption has increased, that increase is not as large as when inequality is measured by income and wages alone. This thorough analysis has important implications for the design of U.S. economic policy and welfare programs in the twenty-first century
(S)Cars and the Great Recession
No full textUS households' consumption expenditures and car purchases collapsed during the Great Recession and more so than income changes would have predicted. Using CEX data, we show that both the extensive and the intensive car spending margins contracted sharply in the Great Recession. We also document significant cross-cohort differences in the impact of the Great Recession including a stronger reduction in car spending by younger cohorts. We draw inference on the sources of the Great Recession by investigating which shocks can explain household choices in a 60 period life-cycle model with idiosyncratic and aggregate shocks fitted to aggregate and life-cycle moments. We find that the Great Recession was caused by a combination of large aggregate income and wealth shocks, while cross-cohort adjustment patterns imply a role for life-cycle income profile shocks. We also find a role for car loan premia shocks in accounting for car spending and car loans
IRAs and Household Saving Revisited: Some New Evidence
No full textThe effectiveness of tax-favored savings accounts in raising national savings depends crucially upon the willingness of households to reduce consumption in order to finance contributions to these accounts. The debate over the tax deductibility of IRA's has centered on whether IRA contributions represented new savings or reshuffled assets. We devise a test to distinguish between these two hypotheses where we compare the behavior of households which just opened an IRA account with that of households which already had an IRA account. Our test accounts for any unobservable heterogeneity across the two groups. We find evidence that supports the view that households financed their IRA contributions primarily through reductions in their stocks of other assets. Our results indicate that less than 20% of IRA contributions represented addition to national savings.
- …
