Standard tests of the permanent income hypothesis (PIH) using data on nondurables typically equate expenditures with … permanent income. Taken together, the results on retirement and unemployment highlight how direct measures of consumption … distinguish between anticipated and unanticipated shocks to income, while using expenditure alone obscures this difference and …

In a rare example of an explicit national goal for income distribution besides reducing poverty, China's leadership has … the potential trade-offs, the paper asks whether China's experience indicates that income-polarization was a by-product of … recently committed to expanding the middle-income share--moving to a less polarized "olive-shaped" distribution. Recognizing …

recreational facilities, county unemployment, crime rates, and prices of related goods. We find that income and education has a …