This is an entry for The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Ed.

Buffer-stock versions of the dynamic stochastic optimizing model of saving are now standard in the consumption literature. This paper builds theoretical foundations for rigorous understanding of the main characteristics of buffer stock models, including the existence of a target level of wealth...

We model the motives for residents of a country to hold foreign assets, including the precautionary motive that has been omitted from much previous literature as intractable. Our model captures many of the principal insights from the existing specialized literature on the precautionary motive,...

Abstract Credit-constrained households must use savings both to smooth consumption and to finance productive investments. This non-separability between consumption and production decisions is ignored in the standard intertemporal buffer-stock consumption model where income growth is exogenous....

Credit-constrained households must use savings both to smooth consumption and to finance productive investments. This non-separability between consumption and production decisions is ignored in the standard intertemporal buffer-stock consumption model where income growth is exogenous. This paper...