rich followed a similar pattern, the result of wealth effects associated with a boom-bust in asset prices. Indeed, the … swings in saving by the rich must actually have played the most important role in the consumption boom-bust, since since the … top 10 percent account for almost half of income and two-thirds of wealth. In other words, the rich played a critical role …

sharing comes mostly from the convergence in rates of consumption growth among countries rather than from synchronization of … consumption at the business cycle frequency. Our finding explains why many existing measures fail to detect improved risk sharing …

We estimate consumption dynamics in the G-7 economies, paying particular attention to the possibility of precautionary … consumption growth. As such, consumption in the G-7 economies is unlikely to be the engine that revives global growth. Differences … in the pace and timing of consumption moderation have implications for the evolution of global imbalances. With the U …

How does access to credit impact consumption volatility? Theory and evidence from advanced economies suggests that … greater household access to finance smooths consumption. Evidence from emerging markets, where consumption is usually more … volatile than income, indicates that financial reform further increases the volatility of consumption relative to output. We …

U.S. household consumption declined sharply in late 2008, marking a departure from the trend of a steady increase in U ….S. consumption as a share of income since the 1980s. Combining econometric and simulation analysis, we estimate that this departure … will be sustained beyond the crisis: the U.S. household consumption rate will likely decline somewhat further from its …