Different family types may have a fixed flow of consumption costs, related to subsistence needs. We use a survey method in order to identify and estimate such a fixed component of spending for different families. Our method involves making direct questions about the linkup between aggregate...

In the context of income dynamics, we investigate whether aspects of agents' superior information relative to the econometrician's limited information are captured in subjective expectations data. It is natural, for instance, to assume that the econometrician cannot observe idiosyncratic shocks...

In 1960, Working noted that time aggregation of a random walk induces serial correlation in the first difference that is not present in the original series. This important contribution has been overlooked in a recent literature analyzing income and consumption in panel data. I examine Blundell,...

In this paper, I analyze detailed data on intergenerational transfers in 4 countries (China, India, Japan, and the United States) from the "Japan Household Panel Survey on Consumer Preferences and Satisfaction (JHPS-CPS)" which has been conducted by the Institute of Social and Economic Research...

We assess household burdens from a carbon tax with revenue recycling, comparing them to burdens from price changes during the recent cost-of-living crisis. We focus on Lithuania, an OECD country that attained high-income status a decade ago, and that recently enacted a €60/ton CO2 carbon tax...

Carbon pricing is becoming increasingly common but raises equity concerns and is frequently perceived as putting higher burdens on the poor than the rich. This chapter discusses the reasons for unequal carbon price burdens across countries and population groups, through the lens of a comparative...

Today's dominant strain of macroeconomic models supposes that aggregate consumption can be understood by assuming the existence of a 'representative agent' whose behavior rationalizes observed outcomes. But representative agent models yield embarrassingly implausible (and empirically inaccurate)...

Die Entwicklung des privaten Verbrauchs ist eine entscheidende Größe bei der Erstellung makroökonomischer Prognosen im Rahmen der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen. Als erklärende Variable für die Konsumentwicklung spielt damit auch die Ersparnisbildung der Haushalte eine zentrale...

This paper provides a single welfare measure to show the effects of consumer price changes upon households in Ireland between 1999 and 2010. This measure combines an efficiency component using a Linear Expenditure System (LES) and an equity component using the Atkinson Social Welfare Function....