's economic position relative to a reference group. Using merged data on race and state level income, we demonstrate that a key … prediction of our model -- that visible consumption should be declining in mean reference group income -- is strongly borne out … in the data separately for each racial group. Moreover, we show that accounting for differences in reference group income …

This paper examines the similarity in wealth between parents and their children, and explores alternative explanations … are highly correlated between parents and children. However, they explain little of the intergenerational correlation in ….37, before the transfer of bequests. Lifetime income and ownership of particular assets, both of which exhibit strong …

-level data for the period 1880-1910, we explore the effects of milk inspections on infant mortality and mortality among children …