This paper is motivated by a very practical question: are there significant geographical differences in the accessibility to the credit market on the part of Italian households? The investigation is carried using robust probit model. Estimation is carried out in a Bayesian framework. The results...

Hicks (1956) conjectured that Slutsky symmetry should hold for discrete as well as infinitesimal price changes if demand functions are globally linear. This paper proves this conjecture using the LES utility function and the Slutsky compensation for price changes. More importantly, in sharp...

Jensen and Miller (2001) have recently demonstrated rice and noodles to be Giffen Goods among the poor in South and North China respectively. We examine whether tortillas, the main staple in Mexico, are also a Giffen Good. The large income change due to the 1995 Peso Crisis and the large...

This paper lends legitimacy to the food share as an indicator of welfare by demonstrating the conditions necessary in empirical work for the Engel method of estimating equivalence scales to provide an exact measure of welfare. In analogy to a money metric of utility, the Engel's food share is...

Individual subjects are experimentally tested for precautionary saving. We use a simplified experimental framework and decision supporting tool to show that subject's consumption is consistent with precautionary saving. We find that subjects overact in changing current income. However, those...

This paper examines a model with habit formation in consumption. The model leads to higher equilibrium values in consumption, output, capital accumulation and labor supply than the neoclassical growth model with elastic labor supply. Comparative static analysis shows that an increase in the...

This paper investigates the impact of habits on savings and steady state capital intensity. Within the framework of an OLG economy with productive capital, a rise in the strength of habits increases savings if the steady state is asymptotically stable. Consequently, the steady state capital...

This paper presents an analysis of self-employment matching among dual-earner couples in Sweden. The results show that self-employment propensities are positively correlated across partners. Self-employment propensities are significantly higher for both males and females whose spouses are...

Taxpayers are considerably interested in tax planning for intergenerational transfers (inter vivos gifts and bequests) that minimize the payment of taxes. Nordblom and Ohlsson (2006) demonstrated that (1) altruistic parents avoid tax payment by changing the timing of transfers when inter vivos...

We measure how different the shapes of Engel curves are across 59 commodity groups. The same analysis is carried out for their derivatives and variances. While Engel curves possess a relatively homogeneous shape, significantly more heterogeneity is present in derivatives and when particular...