Significant departures from log normality are observed in income data, in violation of Gibrat’s law. We identify a new empirical regularity, which is that the distribution of consumption expenditures across households is, within cohorts, closer to log normal than the distribution of income. We...

Both direct utility function and Frisch cost function representations of demand system rank are derived. The results are used to construct a revealed preference (GARP) type test of rank. They are also used to derive results involving block separability, additive separability, and the class of...

<p>Significant departures from log normality are observed in income data, in violation of Gibrat's law. We identify a new empirical regularity, which is that the distribution of consumption expenditures across households is, within cohorts, closer to log normal than the distribution of income. We...</p>

W. M. Gorman's (1981) concept of Engel curve "rank" is extended to apply to any demand system. Rank is shown to have implications for specification, separability, and aggregation of demands. A simple nonparametric test of rank using Engel curve data is described and applied to U.S. and U.K....

For vectors z and w and scalar v, let r(v, z, w) be a function that can be nonparametrically estimated consistently and asymptotically normally, such as a distribution, density, or conditional mean regression function. We provide consistent, asymptotically normal nonparametric estimators for the...

A simple root n consistent, asymptotically normal semiparametric estimator of the coefficient vector beta in the latent variable specification y = L (beta'x + e) is constructed. The distribution of e is unknown and may be correlated with x or be conditionally heteroscedastic, e.g., x can contain...