This paper uses panel data on household consumption and income to evaluate the degree of insurance to income shocks … cases of self-insurance and the complete markets assumption. We assess the degree of insurance over and above self-insurance … conventional demand analysis rather than reduced form imputation procedures. Our results point to some partial insurance but reject …

degree of insurance to income shocks. It combines panel data on income from the PSID with consumption data from repeated CEX … cross-sections and distinguishes between permanent and transitory income shocks. We find some partial insurance of permanent … income shocks with more insurance possibilities for the college educated and those nearing retirement. We find little …