In this paper, we analyze the strength and nature of bequest motives in the United States using data from the 2000 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The results of our analysis suggest that bequest motives are very strong in the United States and that they are altruistically motivated. This...

This paper provides an empirical analysis of individual earnings using data from the Encuesta Suplementaria de Ingresos. We find that the predictable component of income is hump-shaped over the life-cycle, and that there are strong education effects. The unpredictable component of income can be...

Consider a multivariate nonparametric model where the unknown vector of functions depends on two sets of explanatory variables. For a fixed level of one set of explanatory variables, we provide consistent statistical tests, called local rank tests, to determine whether the multivariate...

Consumption is partly a social activity, yet most studies of consumer behavior treat households in isolation. We investigate familial relationships in consumption patterns using a sample of parents and their children from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We find a positive and statistically...

A partir de la Encuesta Salud, Bienestar y Envejecimiento (SABE) de la OPS-OMS (2001) se estiman los determinantes del estado de salud para los adultos mayores montevideanos (60 años y más). Se utilizan cuatro aproximaciones a dicho estado: limitaciones funcionales, autopercepción,...

This study,using the Consumer Expenditure Surveys from 1984 through 1998, revisits the widely pronounced retirement-savings puzzle, which claims the existence of a sharp drop in consumption at the time of retirement. In contrast to previous work, I find that consumption of the retired households...

This paper develops a model in which a continuum of consumers choose from a continuum of locations indexed by school quality. It computes equilibria that are sustained by an equilibrium price function that matches consumers to different locations based on their willingness to pay for school...

This paper analyzes a unique dataset, which contains results of a large-scale experiment in the credit card market. Two strange phenomena that suggest time inconsistency in consumer behavior are observed: First, consumers prefer an introductory offer which has a lower interest rate with a...

This paper investigates how conditional quantiles of a given distribution relate to each other. Given two conditional quantiles estimated nonparametrically, we investigate their relation by linking them through a parametric transformation. Asymptotic normality of the associated parameter vector...

In this paper, we adopt the collective approach to consumer behavior --- which supposes that each household member is characterized by his/her own preferences and the decision process results in Pareto-efficient outcomes --- and assume, in addition, that agents are egoistic and consumption is...