It has long been argued that the anticipations of some future event will impact current consumption and well-being in … model, by assuming that in addition to his own current consumption, an agentś current utility depends upon a reference … consumption level that is based on expected future consumption. Two alternative specifications of the anticipated future …

This paper shows that the combination of habit formation - present consumption creating additional consumption needs in …-best setting the optimal solution can be decentralized by a simple "Pigouvian" (paternalistic) consumption tax (along with suitable … lump-sum taxes). In a second-best setting, when personalized lump-sum transfers are not available, consumption taxes may …

We propose an overlapping generations economy where households care about relative consumption, the difference between … their consumption and the consumption of their reference group. An individual's consumption is driven by the comparison of … consumption ; relative income hypothesis ; permanent income …