We reexamine the empirical relevance of habit formation preferences with micro-data on households' portfolio choices. We first derive the analytical solution to the risky asset share in a theoretical model with both habits and time-varying labor income. Our analytical results indicate that (1)...

The utility function with traditional exponential discount cannot explain individuals´ problems of inter-temporal inconsistence and self-control. Several economists have explained these problems with what is known as “present-bias”. The present-bias means that a good becomes more tempting...

A disturbing feature of the conventional objective function for intertemporal decisions under uncertainty is that the agent's attitudes toward intertemporal substitution and risk aversion are entangled. This paper shows that, in contrast to common perception, the two attitudes can be completely...

Homotheticity induces a dramatic statistical bias in the estimates of the intratemporal and intertemporal substitutions. I find potent support in favor of nonhomotheticity in aggregate consumption data, with nondurable goods being necessities and durable goods luxuries. I obtain the...

In this paper, we incorporate a price search decision into a life cycle model and differentiate consumption from expenditure. Consumers with low wealth and bad income shocks search more for cheaper prices and pay less, which makes their consumption higher than in a model without search option. A...

The aim of this paper is to gain insights from studying adaptation to natural disasters in the past in order to analyze optimal adaptation in Switzerland in the future. Most adaptation measures already undertaken in Switzerland are so-called reactive measures. They may be eective, but not...

This is a short survey on consumption theory. Consumption is important to both fluctuation and growth. In addition, consumption introduces some important issues involving financial markets and portfolio decisions. We will describe consumption decisions in a dynamic context. Uncertainty about...

This paper investigates the existence and degree of variation across house holds and over time in the intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES) and the coefficient of relative risk aversion (RRA) that is generated by habit forming preferences. To do so, we develop a new nonlinear GMM...

This paper examines the theoretical foundations of precautionary wealth accumulation in a multi-period model where consumers face uninsurable earnings risk and borrowing constraints. We begin by characterizing the consumption function of individual consumers. We show that consumption function is...

This paper investigates household decisions when individual utility depends on a consumption reference level. The desire to ``keep up with the Joneses'' represents one such example. The prior literature shows that, in a Ramsey model, consumption externalities have no impact on steady state...